


Caffeinated Sugar Rush

by yoshiyuki



Series: Beverage AU [1]
Category: BUCK-TICK
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Food Service, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Innuendo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:42:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 36,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24773329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshiyuki/pseuds/yoshiyuki
Summary: Where Hide actually does deal in coffee while Yuta serves up bubble tea.
Relationships: Higuchi Yutaka/Hoshino Hidehiko, Imai Hisashi/Sakurai Atsushi
Series: Beverage AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2004184
Comments: 209
Kudos: 80





	1. 1

Yuta whistled a happy tune as he strolled down the quiet streets at daybreak as they just started to wake up. He was still feeling the pleasant buzz from his long night of drinking with friends and even though he was only going to get a few hours of sleep before he had to open shop, he didn’t feel too worried about that. After all, he could choose to keep the shop closed if he didn't feel like working later on.

Walking along the side roads, on narrow pedestrian paths which were marked out with white paint, Yuta entered the recently-flourishing neighbourhood where he lived and worked. It was popular among quite an age-range, from high school students to salarymen, keeping the place busy through the day until sometime past midnight with its restaurants and bars and trendy shops. But for now, it was still asleep. After all, afternoon was when the crowds really started coming in.

A white delivery truck with the address of the local fish market on its back drove past Yuta and stopped outside the sushi restaurant diagonally opposite of Yuta’s shop. Standing outside the restaurant was the sleepy-looking owner, Imai, looking as if he barely paid attention while the deliverymen brought his produce into the restaurant. As Yuta approached, the man noticed him and glanced up with a half-wave in greeting.

Yuta returned it with a big, enthusiastic wave and watched Imai jerk his body with a huff of amusement before retreating into the restaurant. Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his worn denim jacket, Yuta grinned to himself. He had no doubt that Imai would go upstairs and head straight to bed after checking his stocks for the day. He looked like he needed it.

Just like the sushi restaurant owner, Yuta, too, lived right above his store. Only, he wasn’t peddling in anything as fancy as sushi. He sold bubble tea. While he knew that it was just a trend and that trends leave as quickly as they come, he was the only beverage business on this street. If the trend died out, he could easily switch to selling other beverages anyway.

As Yuta drew close to his unit, he took his keys out of the back pocket of his jeans with a jingle but then paused in front of the store just before his own. This empty unit had been boarded up and under renovation for close to a month now. But the boards had been removed now and inside the darkened unit was an unmistakable bar counter, much like the one he had in his shop.

Yuta slowly tilted his head upwards to look at the signboard. “Hoshino Coffeehouse,” it said. The name seemed to ring a bell, but Yuta was far more upset than intrigued. All his good mood from earlier had dissipated in mere moments as his upper lip twitched with distaste. This  _ had  _ to be a joke. Putting another beverage store right next to his? Whose idea was that?!

“Move,” a low voice came from behind.

Yuta twisted around and came face to face with the flat chest of a man… more than a head taller than him. Yuta’s upper lip twitched again as he glared up at the brown eyes set on a chiselled face and asked, “What?”

The man pressed his lips thin, swallowed and pointed at the new shop. “I’m trying to go in,” he said.

“And?” Yuta retorted.

“You’re in front of the door.”

Yuta turned and saw that the man was right. Well, this was embarrassing.

Facing the man again, Yuta wrinkled his nose and snapped, “Can’t you ask nicely?” Without waiting for an answer, he turned on his heel and marched a few steps away to his unit.

The man clicked his tongue loudly but Yuta deliberately ignored him. Unlocking the side door by his shuttered storefront, he entered the narrow stairwell which led up to his home on the second floor without as much a glance at the man. But after he locked the door behind him, Yuta hurried up the stairs and into his living room to peek out of the windows overlooking the main street.

Crouching by the window, Yuta took this chance to get a better look at this new person. Although his build may be different than Yuta's, he actually seemed rather close to his own age. And not only was this man tall, he also had a rather sturdy build too, much like that of an athlete. His hair, though. That was one thick mop of a mess. Yuta could see the man downstairs scratching the back of his head with a strange look on his face while he fumbled with his keys. Could he be the owner of the new store? If he was, they sure didn’t get off on a good start.

Eventually, the man went inside and there was no longer anything of interest for Yuta to watch on the streets. Yuta sat down on the floor with a huff and instantly felt a wave of drowsiness hitting him, weighing his eyelids close for longer and longer spans of time whenever he blinked.  Well, he sure didn't expect the alcohol to hit him after so long, but since he was already home, no harm letting himself sleep wherever, right?


	2. 2

A loud bang startled Yuta awake. As he swept his hair back with a hand, the next thing he heard was loud cheers and applause. Rolling onto his knees, Yuta scrambled to his feet and looked outside. There was a huge crowd of people downstairs, more than he had ever seen. Heck, there were even news reporters and TV crew around. What the hell was going on?

Yuta leaned further out his window and looked to his left, to where the crowd had their attention on; a neatly dressed fifty-something man and a slightly taller, younger man who had his hair tied back in a small ponytail. Honestly, it looked more like a bunny tail though.

Yuta narrowed his eyes as he kept looking at the younger man. For some reason, the strong jawline struck him as familiar. Just as that thought crossed his mind, the man turned, as if feeling Yuta’s stare and made eye contact with him.

The moment it happened, Yuta felt his gut lurch at being discovered. But less than a split second later, he realised that he recognised those brown eyes. He had just seen them downstairs earlier.

It appeared that the man had gone on to change into a more presentable outfit while Yuta had been asleep; an apron over a white collared shirt tucked into his fitted long pants with the sleeves folded up to show off his muscled forearms. And with his hair tied up, he looked worlds apart from the uncouth mess who Yuta met this early morning.

Before Yuta could react to being seen though, the older gentleman gave the younger a nudge from the back and the man quickly turned his attention back to the crowd in front of him. Within the next moment, cameras started flashing and another round of applause started.

Although the lights weren't aimed at him, the flashes combined with the noise turned out to be a horrible combination for Yuta at this time when he had a mild hangover to nurse. Assaulted by pangs of headache, Yuta scrunched up his face and dropped his head to rest against the window sill, cursing silently.

It was the middle of the week! Why on earth were they holding an obvious opening in the middle of the week!? And with so much fanfare too! Come to think of it, none of the other stores around this place ever created this much commotion when they first started out.

Eventually, the noise faded away and someone started making a speech. Yuta lifted his head and looked down at the scene before him. The old man was speaking. His voice was echoing out into the streets through the sound system which had been set up. He sounded happy, talking about his family business, the coffee distribution, this new venture… 

Yuta glanced at the signboard again. Hoshino’s… Hoshino? That name sounded familiar to him earlier, but now, Yuta was getting a nagging sensation in the back of his mind about it.

Sliding off the window sill and down the wall, Yuta pulled out his phone from his jacket pocket and started tapping around to look up the name. The results came in almost immediately. In fact, it was already the top news result for the day.

“Top Coffee Distributor, Hoshino Launches New Venture Into Coffee Shop Industry”.

Yuta couldn’t tell if he was feeling sick from his hangover or from reading those words. He could even feel a splitting headache coming on from the thought of having to compete with such an established name. Or maybe that was his hangover again.

Yuta groaned and held his head in his hands. He started this joint to try and get a more stable income source than the festival stalls he typically ran. And he already had a few good months’ run with this bubble tea venture but the opening of this Hoshino place was definitely going to throw a wrench in his plans. He could just  _ feel _ it in his bones. 

But! Yuta hopped to his feet. He wasn’t going to just give up! He couldn’t! If there was one thing Yuta had learnt from his parents - or rather, his mom, mostly - it was that a Higuchi doesn’t give in just like that! If his mom could run a bar against more established competition while being a mom, he could run a beverage outfit in these circumstances too!

Or, not. Another bout of giddiness suddenly assaulted Yuta and he found himself stumbling while slowly lowering himself to the floor with a groan, the dizzy sensation dousing his burst of enthusiasm. He must have stood up too quickly this time. Crouching on the floor with his head under his arms, Yuta sighed. Maybe he'll think about running the store later. When he was feeling better. 


	3. 3

Yuta stifled a yawn as he rested his head on the countertop in his arms. He had decided to put in the effort and get himself ready to open shop at his usual time, but perhaps he shouldn't have bothered. Anyone and everyone who came into the district today seemed to have only come for one reason; the newly opened Hoshino Coffeehouse.

The noisy sound of sucking through a straw followed by loud chewing reached Yuta’s ears as one of his regulars joined him and leaned against the counter too. “You know, maybe you could’ve skipped opening the stall today,” the tall, lanky man mused.   


“Hrn, maybe,” Yuta grumbled. “But I thought to myself, who’s gonna supply Mr. Imai his daily drink if I’m closed?”

A lopsided smile broke out on the sushi chef's face as he started snickering. “Oh, how noble of you,” he teased with a grin. “But if you weren’t open, I’d have an excuse to go try out that new place.”

“So much for a loyal customer,” Yuta huffed jokingly.

“Well, I do have to try out the new stuff, don’t I?” Imai pointed out before noisily sucking up a few more tapioca balls. “B’sides,” he said while chewing, “that’sh quite’a shpecimen b’hind th’counter.”

“Hah!” Yuta immediately scoffed before going, "Wait, you've seen him?"

"Well," Imai swallowed, "I took a peek before coming in here. Gotta know who’s the new neighbour, y’know?”

“Huh,” Yuta huffed. “From the looks of that snaking queue, I’m pretty sure everyone already knows who he is.”

“Why’s there a queue anyway?” Imai suddenly asked as he ripped into the plastic seal on his cup.

“What?” Yuta stared at him in disbelief.

“What?” Imai looked back with confusion.

“You don’t know?”

“ … Am I supposed to?”

“Didn’t you hear the commotion this morning?” Yuta asked.

Imai started chuckling, “Don’t tell me you got into a fight with him.” 

“No! I mean- technically, we did have a bit of friction but that’s not what I’m talking about,” Yuta huffed.

“It’s just like you to start fights with people you don’t know,” Imai burst out laughing.

“Hey, hey! I didn’t start it this time!” Yuta denied. “ _ He _ was the one who started it,” he said, jabbing a finger in the direction of the new coffeehouse. “I was just looking at the place out of curiosity when  _ he _ was the one who told me to shove it!”

Still laughing, Imai slapped the countertop and said, “Maybe he’s just like you with that temperament. Except, he’s bigger.”

“Oy!"

“If you asked me-”

“No one’s asking!” 

“ -you’re like a Chihuahua and he’s an Akita!” Imai finished with a hysterical laugh.

Yuta smacked Imai on his shoulder and snatched Imai’s cup out of his hands. “No more for you!” 

“Oh, toss it for me, I don’t care. I’m done anyway,” Imai dismissed with a laugh as he rubbed his cheeks. 

Chucking the plastic cup into the bin with a huff, Yuta retorted, “Isn’t it almost time for you to open anyway?”

“Yeah, but Acchan isn’t here yet,” Imai shrugged.

“Huh? Didn’t he stay over?” Yuta asked. Wasn’t that why Imai looked so tired this morning?

“He did,” Imai nodded. “Then, he went out a couple of hours ago for errands or something.”

“You mean, he went looking for _sherbet_?” Yuta smirked.

“Nah, he’d say so if he was going to,” Imai huffed and folded his arms. Pressing his lips thin, he added, “He probably went to the college.”

“He’s… studying?”

“Him?” Imai burst out laughing. “Him?! What do you think?”

“Well, then, what’s he doing there?” Yuta asked, frowning in confusion.

“He found out last week there’s a small colony of cats which lives there.”   


“Ohh,” Yuta chuckled. “That’s it?”

“You know how he is,” Imai nodded.

“You know, why don’t you just keep a cat in your restaurant? That’ll keep Acchan there, won’t it?” Yuta suggested.

“A cat? In a sushi restaurant?” Imai questioned sarcastically.

“Okay, fine. Maybe don’t run a sushi restaurant?” Yuta proposed. “A cat cafe…?”

“It’s literally my namesake. How could I not?” Imai retorted. “Besides, I went through all that trouble to train for this. I’m not ditching it just like that,” he added.

“A sushi-cat cafe…?” 

Imai shot Yuta an exasperated look in response.

“Fine, fine, I’ll stop,” Yuta huffed a laugh and went back to resting his head in his arms on the counter.

Both men were quiet for a while; simply watching the moving line of trend chasers cutting in front of Yuta’s shop while waiting for Acchan, or Atsushi, to come back from his self-appointed ‘errand’. It was easy to tell when he was near, though. Murmurs started up from the girls in the queue. Head turns, standing on tiptoes, craning of necks; all the usual signs.

Yuta could see the man standing outside past the line, his long hair tied up in a bun. He had a terribly intense look on his face, the kind that one would usually call intimidating but to Yuta and Imai, they knew it was something else entirely; he was intimidated by the crowd and the attention directed at him.

“You know,” Yuta reached underneath to open up a fridge near him, “I think you better go to him,” he suggested as he pulled out a pre-packed cup of milk tea.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Imai agreed, straightening up while his eyes were still locked on Atsushi. “Damn, he looks absolutely terrified,” he muttered.

“This is his,” Yuta said, pushing the chilled milk tea towards Imai.

“Why are you always giving him free stuff?” Imai looked down at the cup and frowned.

“Why not?”

“Why’s everyone always giving him free stuff?” Imai griped as he took the cup. Suddenly, a thought struck him. “Huh, d’you think he can get free stuff from the new guy?”

“I’d love to test that out, but… I don’t think you should make him join this queue,” Yuta said pointedly.

“Yeah, yeah, I mean, when it’s quieter or something,” Imai nodded. “Would be fun to see what happens, y’know?” he added.

Still watching the people outside, Yuta noticed that there were a few ladies who were starting to approach Atsushi.

Imai clicked his tongue and cursed. “Why won’t they leave him alone,” he muttered angrily. Marching out of Yuta’s shop, he quickly bade, “I’ll see you later or something.”

“Yeah, see you,” Yuta raised his hand, barely waving it as Imai left.

From his spot at the counter, Yuta could see Imai rudely intercepting the ladies’ path to collect Atsushi. Ushering the man along with a hand on his back, Imai led Atsushi towards the small alley by their restaurant and soon disappeared into one of the backroads. The method was swift, it was efficient, and it most definitely kept unwanted attention from finding out that they spent almost all their time just across the street from here.

After all, how would they know when the exorbitant prices at that sushi restaurant scared the busybodies away from even daring to venture a peek in.


	4. 4

It had been some days since the coffeehouse first opened and, as expected, people were still queuing long queues to get a taste of the new thing in town. Yuta’s store, on the other hand, was getting only a trickle of business compared to what things used to be. But this, too, was as expected.

Yuta relaxed behind his counter, sitting on the high stool as he continued people-watching, something he had taken to doing since a couple of days ago. He hadn’t had any encounters with his new neighbour since that first opening day. Yuta didn’t feel any particular way about it, but he guessed that the man was probably exhausted from dealing with these crowds every day. Nice as it was to have a bustling business, Yuta knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it if he was in that position.

Although, with the way things were going, Yuta felt a slight pang of worry about whether he would be able to hold out until everything goes back to normal, if ever. At least for now, he still had long-time regulars dropping by and the staff from the other shops in this area placing orders for drinks. These people shared his sentiment; they’d wait until the crowds died down before patronising the new place. After all, they were going to be here all the time, so why queue with these visitors?

But because of these circumstances, Yuta had been opening later and closing earlier. If any of his regulars wanted anything, they could call or drop him a message anyway. Like today. He was staying open a little later into the evening since a couple of ladies who ran a clothing store down the street placed a rather big order and said they would come and pick their order up at about six.

All Yuta could do now was wait, though. With only one or two customers coming in here and there, he had been spending his time deep cleaning different parts of his stall. He originally started with the bar counter and the drink preparation station, and just earlier, he cleaned out one-half of the fridges in the stall. He was saving the other half for tomorrow. It was a little late for him to start on that now, anyway.

As Yuta slowly went through the motions of completing the daily tasks in his mobile game, he suddenly heard a lady’s voice exclaim, “Goodness gracious, look at this queue!”

Yuta glanced up at the clock on the wall. 6 p.m. Right on time.

“This is ridiculous, Yutaka-kun!” The lady approached, addressing Yuta by his full given name. “How are you supposed to get any customers when all those people are blocking your storefront?!”

Smiling, Yuta stood up and greeted her, “Hello, there, Sachi.”

“Yutaka-kun, how could you let them do this!” Sachi went on, waving a hand at the ladies in the queue who, upon hearing her words, shot Sachi a look. Sachi didn’t seem to notice it, or maybe she simply ignored them, saying, “With all these people in the way, passers-by would think it be too much of a hassle to come in even if they wanted to!”

“I know, I know,” Yuta nodded and sighed. “I’ve tried to make them line up differently, but they’d end up like this again in less than half an hour,” he said, gesturing at the line of people outside his stall with both hands. “I can’t spend my whole day doing crowd control, right?”

“That’s true,” Sachi agreed with a dramatic sigh. “I’m not even sure if it’s worth it for you to hire someone just to do that. That’s something your new neighbour should be doing, though,” she said, folding her arms and side-eying the coffeehouse. 

“Right?” Yuta agreed. Drumming his fingers on the table, he muttered, “Though, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen any other staff aside from that one guy.”

Sachi immediately perked up. “Which guy?” 

“There’s this tall, broadly built… You haven’t had a look in the stall?” Yuta asked, pausing his description halfway when he realised that Sachi was still clueless.

“Should I be looking?” Sachi asked, glancing in the direction of the coffeehouse. “I mean, he sounds like an utter hunk-”

“Just- Go satisfy your curiosity,” Yuta nodded and waved with the face of part understanding and part resignation. 

With a hop and a skip, Sachi excitedly stepped out of Yuta’s premises, sidestepped her way through the queues and stood outside on her tiptoes. Her fluffy dress swished as she shifted around and craned her neck to try and see over the crowd. Eventually, her eyes grew large and she dropped down onto her heels.

Hurrying back in, Sachi said in awe, “He runs the place alone.”

“ … Really, now?” Yuta responded, slightly surprised. “I thought he’d at least have another two or three staff working with him. You know, since it’s an established name.”

“With all these people, I thought the same but, that’s apparently not the case,” Sachi replied. “Goodness, how does he handle it all. That poor man.”

“That, what?”

“Poor thing, isn’t he?” Sachi said again, wistful eyes looking in the direction of the coffeehouse. “Having to serve so many customers in a day all by himself.”

“Weren’t you just indignant for me a couple of minutes ago?” Yuta asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No doubt, Yutaka-kun, you are cute, you’re  _ very _ cute,” Sachi began. “But  _ him _ ? Oh, boy,” she started fanning herself with a hand, “Yutaka-kun, I’m telling you, there’s nothing hotter than watching a man like that so focused on his work.”

“Excuse me, but that was  _ not _ my question-”

“Oh, but don’t worry, Yutaka-kun. I’ll always be rooting for you,” Sachi smiled widely at him. “And your teas.”

“Ah, right!” Yuta hurriedly bent over and opened the fridges to take out the ten drinks Sachi had ordered. As he packed them into carriers, he asked, “You know, I’ve been wondering, how are you and Yuka going to finish all of this?”

“Well, actually, we’re going to have a few friends over so all of this,” Sachi twirled her finger around as if drawing a circle over the drinks, “includes their orders too.”

Yuta made a soundless ‘o’ with his mouth and nodded in understanding.

“We thought we might as well do a little bit of advertising for you too, y’know?”

“That would be very much appreciated,” Yuta grinned as he keyed the order into the cash register and accepted the payment from Sachi. Handing her the carriers with a short bow, Yuta said, “Thank you very much!”

Sachi smiled back but sighed. “Really I hope you can pull through this, Yutaka-kun,” she said empathetically. “You’re so nice to have around.”

“Hah, well, I hope so too,” Yutaka replied. “But, hey, if this stall doesn’t make it, maybe you could hire me?” he suggested jokingly.

“Only if you’ll let us dress you up,” Sachi returned with a devious smirk.

Oh, goodness. Yuta could only hide his grimace under a cordial, mirthful laugh as he waved goodbye and watched Sachi leave. Perhaps looking for a backup plan with Sachi and Yuka wasn’t the best idea he’s had after all.


	5. 5

“So? How did it go?” Yuta asked.

It was now after hours at Imai’s sushi restaurant and he had been invited to have leftovers with Imai and Atsushi for dinner. Yuta could never say no to this offer. Especially when the food was this good. Granted, kappa maki was the only sushi he was partial to, though.

“It was probably the most silent interaction I’ve ever witnessed,” Imai said while dicing a variety of raw fish. Plopping the diced fish into a large bowl, he poured some sort of sauce over it and started to toss the fish as he went on, “Neither of them said anything-”

“I did speak,” Atsushi’s soft voice cut in from beside Yuta. They were both seated along the restaurant’s bar counter while Imai was behind in the kitchen.

“Well, I didn’t hear you,” Imai said back, adding more sauce and tossing the fish again.

“I _did_ ,” Atsushi insisted.

“You tell him what happened, then,” Imai pushed.

“Fine,” Atsushi huffed. Turning to Yuta, he began, “So… We went over about… five minutes before the coffeehouse closed. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea…”

“But that’s the only time when there’s barely anyone around,” Imai pointed out while shovelling a heap of sauce-covered diced fish onto a bowl of rice.

“That’s true…” Atsushi muttered. Imai put the bowl in front of him. Accepting it with a soft ‘thank you’, Atsushi continued, “Hisashi waited outside while I went in.”

“Why?” Yuta piped up. “Why’d you make him go in himself?” he asked Imai.

“To make sure I don’t end up becoming the variable factor that ruins our experiment.”

“Mm, that,” Atsushi nodded. When Imai put another bowl of fish and rice on the counter, Atsushi took it as well and placed it on the tablespace next to him while Imai disappeared into the back. “So, I went up to the counter, took a look at the menu and pointed at the cappuccino. Coffee Boy shook his head. He was out of that. So I pointed to the mocha, and he shook his head again. Then, I pointed to the standard black coffee and-” 

“There’s no more black coffee either?” Yuta cut in.

“Unh,” Atsushi nodded.

“Why is he still open then?”

“Because apparently, he still had cocoa to sell,” Imai replied as he came out to join them at the bar counter. In his hand was an unopened bottle of sweet potato shochu. “And cocoa was what… What did you call him? Coffee Boy?” Imai asked Atsushi.

Atsushi nodded once. 

“So, hot cocoa was what Coffee Boy offered Acchan in the end,” Imai finished. “Maybe it was something about the look on Acchan’s face or the way he kept looking for change to pay for that cup of hot cocoa, I don’t know, but whatever it was, Acchan only paid half the price for that drink.”

“So I said thank you and then I left,” Atsushi concluded.

“I expected… more when you said that you spoke,” Yuta remarked.

“Well, it’s him,” Imai gestured at the sheepish Atsushi who had already begun eating. “Are you even surprised?”

“ … No,” Yuta admitted, popping a piece of kappa maki into his mouth. “I was more surprised when he insisted that he spoke, actually.”

“I’m not _that_ bad,” Atsushi huffed.

"You _are_ ," Imai retorted. Opening the bottle of shochu, he poured Atsushi a cup and added, "Until we get some alcohol in you, that is."

Yuta chucked as Imai handed him a cup too. The three of them had a toast and then, Yuta surmised, "So, Acchan didn't get a free drink, but a discounted one instead."

"Yeah. But I'd say that's pretty good for a first time," Imai nodded.

"You make it sound as if I do this on purpose," Atsushi muttered.

“We know you don’t,” Imai reassured with a pat on Atsushi’s back. “But it’s always fascinating to see people giving you free stuff for one reason or another.”

“Man, I wish that’s an ability I have,” Yuta sighed as he rested his chin in his hand.

“I think _your_ ability is more impressive, though,” Atsushi said, giving Yuta a pointed look.

“What ability?” Yuta asked, fully perplexed by that statement.

“Your ability to make friends with everyone,” Imai replied before shoving a mouthful of rice and fish into his mouth.

“Especially those you’ve had fights with,” Atsushi added.

“Oh, c’mon,” Yuta rolled his eyes with a huff. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t fight-”

“Okay, fine. Those you’ve had _disagreements_ with,” Atsushi rephrased.

“I don’t-”

“Think about it,” Imai cut in. “You’ve probably had disagreements with everyone on this street.”

“I didn’t have any such incidents with you two!” Yuta pointed out indignantly. 

Atsushi and Imai glanced at each other.

“We mostly avoid conflict,” Imai said.

“Pacifists by nature,” Atsushi added.

“But hey, as I said, you’ve made friends with everyone and you’re on good terms with them all now,” Imai reminded. “It’s not as if we’re saying that this is a bad thing, y’know?”

“It’s really impressive, actually,” Atsushi commented. “You know how much of a people person I am in comparison.”

“Yet everyone dotes on you,” Yuta reiterated. 

“If you want the cocoa, it’s still sitting in the fridge, by the way,” Imai said, turning his attention back to his late dinner.

“Oh, nah, I’m not hard pressed for that,” Yuta declined. “I’m not a fan of sweet stuff anyway.”

Atsushi froze and stared and Yuta.

“What?” Yuta asked.

“But… But you run the dessert equivalent of a drink stall,” Atsushi pointed out. “Yet you don’t like sweet foods?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Yuta asked.

“D-don’t you have to taste-test your products?” Atsushi asked, bewildered.

“I did in the beginning,” Yuta said. “But these days, I just give hand out samples and adjust according to the feedback,” he added with a shrug.

“Huh, I guess that works,” Imai muttered with a grunt.

“It most certainly does,” Yuta affirmed.

“But… what do you do now?” Atsushi asked, unconvinced.

“Now?” Yuta echoed.

“Yes, now. When you don’t have as many people coming by because of Coffee Boy,” Atsushi replied.

“Ah…” Yuta looked up at the ceiling and paused for a moment before answering, “You know, I actually thought of bringing out the summer flavours next week, but with the way things are going…”

“You should start pushing the samples this week then,” Atsushi suggested.

“But with that queue in front of my stall-”

“Exactly,” Imai cut in, a smile breaking out on his face as he exchanged a glance with Atsushi. “You start with that queue.”

“You don’t even have to do any street-side soliciting,” Atsushi nodded in agreement.

“Just offer samples to whoever’s in the queue. Since they’re already waiting there, they’ve got nothing to lose,” Imai went on. “At the very least, you’d get your feedback and at best, you’d win returning customers.”


	6. 6

Yuta flicked his lighter open with a metallic 'ting'. Rolling the spark wheel a couple of times, he ignited a flame before bringing it to the end of the cigarette in his mouth. Sucking in a breath, Yuta watched his cigarette glow bright orange before he let the flame die and exhaled white smoke.

It was nice to sit down on the street side curb outside his stall and unwind now, a little bit past midnight when things were quieter and most of the crowd had moved on to the nightlife side of the district. Yuta had just spent another day giving out samples of mango, peach, and melon drink varieties between the few orders he received. It was more work than he expected but it felt better than sitting behind the counter and doing nothing. And the feedback had been good too. He just hoped that all this effort would bring the customers back in when he starts putting the summer flavours on the menu the day after tomorrow.

Just as Yuta was about to put his lighter away, a soft voice came from his left.

"Excuse me…"

Startled Yuta snapped his head around and saw his new neighbour, Coffee Boy, standing behind him with a questing look on his face and an unlit cigarette between his fingers. Yuta didn’t expect to see the man here this late at night. After all, the coffeehouse usually closed at eight and he would have left shortly after that.

“Can I borrow your lighter?” he asked. “Mine’s dead,” he added, demonstrating that fact with a couple of flicks with his own lighter.

Yuta gave Coffee Boy a blank stare and took a moment to think. Well, there was not much of a valid reason for him to say no, right? Even if he wanted to out of spite.

Turning back to face the opposite side of the street, Yuta grunted and stretched his arm up to half-heartedly offer his lighter to the taller man. When he felt his lighter get taken, he dropped his arm and took another puff from his cigarette. Yuta then shifted his attention to observing what little activity went on around them as he half-listened to Coffee Boy’s muffled ‘thanks’ and the sounds of his lighter being used.

Yuta’s eyes followed a cyclist speeding by and a heavy sigh sounded behind him. For some strange reason, it sounded deliberate. And it sounded as if it was directed at him. Frowning, Yuta looked over his shoulder and up at the man. He was leaning against the lamppost and had his eyes covered with a hand but within moments, he hastily removed it as if he felt Yuta’s stare.

“Oh, sorry,” Coffee Boy mumbled, fumbling around before returning Yuta’s lighter.

Yuta kept his eyes on Coffee Boy and continued frowning as he took the lighter back from the man. Coffee Boy seemed to have thought that Yuta’s frown was because he wanted his lighter back and once he returned it, he went back to leaning on the lamppost with a listless look on his face.

Looking at Coffee Boy, Yuta found himself getting annoyed by this dampener of a mood standing so close to him and ruining his wind down. Huffing, he grumbled, “Alright, what is it?”

“Hurh?” 

“What’s got you looking like shit?” Yuta asked, pursing his lips. 

Coffee Boy’s cheek twitched and he muttered, “I look like shit?”

“Y’think?"

Coffee Boy’s cheek twitched again and he looked like he wanted to respond, but instead, he closed his eyes and sighed. Running a hand through his still tied up hair, he reached back and removed his hair tie, letting his hair come free. Messy hair obscuring his face from Yuta like a curtain, he sucked his cigarette, then finally replied, “I’m just tired, alright?”

“Hah,” Yuta scoffed, eyes on the streets again. “Tired of your booming business?”

“Quite.”

Yuta let out a cynical laugh. “So tired of it that you stayed till this late, huh?”

“I fell asleep in the storeroom,” Coffee Boy mumbled.

“You… You, what?” Yuta did a double-take.

“I missed my last train,” Coffee Boy continued. He was now rubbing his forehead against the lamppost as he started to squat down and whine, “I don’t even know if there’s any point in going home if I only have less than a couple of hours before I need to leave again.”

“Only a couple of hours?” Yuta repeated with disbelief. “How does that add up-”

“My commute,” the man lifted his head from the lamppost and turned to look at Yuta in the eye, “takes two hours. Each. Way.”

Yuta almost dropped his cigarette when he heard the revelation. “Two hours?!”

“Tell me about it,” Coffee Boy monotoned. Taking a long drag from his cigarette, he muttered to himself, “Maybe I should just sleep in the storeroom all the way.”

“Don’t you need a change of clothes!?” Yuta grimaced in disgust. He could practically imagine the stale stench of sweat which would probably cling to just about anyone if they wore day-old clothes in this summer heat.

“I dunno,” Coffee Boy shrugged. “I don’t have any extra clothes.”

“Borrow some!?”

“From who? You?” Coffee Boy scoffed with a mocking smirk.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake!” Yuta bit his cigarette between his teeth and stood up with a huff. Grabbing the reluctant Coffee Boy by his arm, Yuta dragged him to his feet and pulled him across the street with him. “Come!” he ordered. “It’s time you get to know your other neighbours!”


	7. 7

Yuta led Coffee Boy into the alley behind the sushi restaurant and stopped in front of a nondescript door. Switching to holding his cigarette between his fingers, Yuta raised his other fist and banged against the door as he yelled, "Oy! Open up!"

Stepping back, Yuta paused and waited. He didn't hear any acknowledgement or reaction, though. After a moment, he raised his fist and banged on the door again. This time, Imai's long, frustrated scream of "waaaaaait" reached his ears.

Soon after that, the dull thud of something hitting the floor could be heard, followed by a sharp gasp, or was it a moan? Yuta tilted his head back to look at the open window upstairs. What on earth was going on in there? Yuta started banging on the door again and Imai responded almost instantly. 

"Fine, fine! I'm coming!" Imai's distant voice yelled.

In the background, a soft voice retorted, "Damn right you are."

Then came a sharp, “Shh!”

Yuta furrowed his brow in concern at everything he was hearing. It sounded like he was interrupting something. Tossing a glance over his shoulder, Coffee Boy had just finished his cigarette and was beginning to fish another out of his slightly-squashed pack. Coffee Boy looked at Yuta as he put his pack away and asked softly, “Can I borrow your lighter again?”

Pressing his lips thin, Yuta fished his lighter out of his jacket’s front pocket and passed it to the taller man with an unimpressed face. As he watched Coffee Boy lighting his second cigarette, a string of muffled curses accompanied footsteps thundering down the stairs. Yuta turned to the door just as it swung open.

“Who the fuck-! … Oh, it’s you,” a dishevelled Imai stopped short of ranting when he saw Yuta outside. 

“Yup. Got a girl with you?” Yuta quipped.

“Shut it. What do you want?” Imai huffed, leaning against the door to keep it open while he fumbled with fastening his pants the rest of the way. “It’s like… past midnight,” he grumbled, pausing to glance upstairs and look at the time.

“You got spare clothes to lend?” Yuta asked.

“Wha-?” Imai frowned and made a face at Yuta. “What do you need that for?”

“Not me,” Yuta shook his head and jabbed a thumb behind him. “This guy needs a change of clothes.”

Imai’s eyes followed Yuta’s thumb and, seemingly for the first time, he noticed Coffee Boy smoking there. Coffee Boy grunted a quiet ‘hello’ and Imai’s frown only grew deeper as he raised a hand in mystified greeting. Leaning closer to Yuta, he whispered, “What’s he doing here?”

Yuta let out a big sigh and scratched the back of his head. “Where do I start…”   


“You didn’t do anything untoward to him, did you?” Imai quickly asked.

“What the fuck-! No!”

“Who is it?” a familiar voice called from the upstairs window as a head of long, jet-black hair peered out. It was Atsushi. He had a surprised look on his face as he said, “Oh? Yuta? And… Coffee Boy?”

Almost immediately, Yuta heard the perplexed echo of, “‘Coffee Boy’?” 

“He wants to borrow clothes,” Imai said to Atsushi. “I was just thinking yours might fit better than mine,” he added.

“Mine?” Atsushi repeated with confusion. “Why would Yuta fit my clothes better?” 

“Coffee Boy’s the one who needs the clothes,” Imai clarified.

“You guys call me ‘Coffee Boy’?” Coffee Boy piped up, suddenly sounding particularly awake.

“Yeah,” Atsushi affirmed.

“Why?”

“We don’t know your name,” Imai shrugged.

“But… It’s on the signboard,” Coffee Boy replied.

Yuta turned around and looked at him. “It is?” 

“Yes?” Coffee Boy stuck his hand out above his head and gestured as he said, “Ho-shi-no.”

“I thought that was just the brand of the coffee,” Imai confessed.

“No- I mean, yes but that’s also my family name.” 

“So, do you have clothes he can borrow?” Yuta interrupted, reminding them what they were here for. They might never get anywhere if he let the conversation continue on its way.

“Oh! Probably,” Atsushi nodded as he gave Coffee Boy, or rather, Hoshino a thoughtful look. “If you come upstairs it’ll be easier to tell whether anything fits,” he invited.

“At least get dressed first?” Imai retorted, casting a slightly wearily glance upstairs.

Atsushi caught Imai’s glance and beamed at him before moving away from the window without a word and disappearing inside.

Imai kept looking upstairs for a good while as if waiting for some sort of cue. Eventually, just as Coffee Boy finished his second cigarette, he beckoned Yuta and Coffee Boy with a hand and said, “Alright, come in.”


	8. 8

“Try to keep your hands to yourself,” Imai snapped when Yuta reached for a weird-looking bottle on the cluttered coffee table.

This was Yuta’s first time in Imai’s apartment and he expected the racks of records but he didn’t expect to see all sorts of weird knick-knacks cluttering up the place. There were figurines, bottles of all shapes and sizes; empty and half-drunk and full, a small stack of rental DVDs, paper cups, oddly-shaped ashtrays… There was so much to look at Yuta wasn’t sure what to make of it all.

While he was out here sitting on the couch with Imai, Hoshino was inside one of the two bedrooms with Atsushi who was busy looking through the stash of clothes he left here at Imai’s for something which might fit Hoshino. Thinking about it, Yuta honestly felt more comfortable addressing Hoshino by Coffee Boy. Every mention of ‘Hoshino’ only reminded him of the coffee brand.

“It’s almost funny how quiet those two’s interactions are,” Imai muttered. He was lounging in one corner of the couch, casually smoking his cigarette as his eyes fixed on the open door to the room that Atsushi and Coffee Boy were in.

“Well, you’re pretty quiet yourself,” Yuta replied as he leaned forward and tapped his cigarette’s ashes into an ashtray shaped like a skeletal hand.

“Don’t I talk to you?” Imai pointed out. “And Acchan.”

“You pretty much ignore everyone else, though,” Yuta reminded. “Unless you’re drunk. Come to think of it, you’re not that much different from Acchan. Sometimes I do wonder whether it gets awkwardly quiet in your restaurant during service hours when you and Acchan are the only ones working there.”

Imai was silent as he gave Yuta a long hard look. It seemed as if he was really thinking this one through before he finally turned his attention back to the room and muttered, “We’re different.” He didn’t look willing to elaborate on that.

“Hn.” Yuta followed Imai’s line of sight and wondered aloud, “I wonder what’s taking them so long, though. Aren’t they just looking for clothes that fit?” 

“True.” As if acting on that realisation, Imai suddenly leaned forward and stood up.

Dragging his feet against the floor, Imai noisily shuffled to the threshold. Yuta quickly followed. He wasn’t sure what he was following for, but the prospect of sitting on the couch alone while everyone was in another spot felt weird. 

As Imai stopped by the door frame, he took a drag from his cigarette and asked, “Not done yet?”

Yuta came up behind Imai and leaned his weight on one side, tilting his body to the right as he looked past Imai and into the room. Atsushi was kneeling in front of an open wardrobe, digging around in one of the drawers while Coffee Boy squatted next to him and watched him quietly.

Atsushi took a pause from his digging to look Imai in the eye and shake his head mutely.

“Is it so hard to find something that fits this guy?” Imai remarked.

“His shoulders are a little bit broader than mine,” Atsushi muttered, lips puckering as he pressed them together. “I thought the tees would work but…”

“But?” Imai probed.

“They look a size too small,” Coffee Boy finished, wrinkling his nose as he rested his chin in his palm.

"Now that I think about it," Atsushi raised, "I wear your clothes more often than not, Imai. And if yours can't fit him-"

"You've got those oversized sweaters of yours, don't you?" Imai recalled.

Atsushi stopped again and gave Imai a look. "But it's summer," he sighed.

“Blouses?”

“Those aren’t exactly… opaque,” Atsushi mumbled. “I don’t think making him wear them is a good idea.”

Imai sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Tank tops?”

Yuta could almost see a lightbulb going off over Atsushi’s head. Hissing an almost silent “yes”, Atsushi closed the drawer he had been looking in and opened the lowest one. Addressing Hoshino, he asked, “How many do you need?”

“I think one is sufficient,” Coffee Boy muttered, stifling a yawn.

Atsushi promptly pulled out a black tank top and handed it to Coffee Boy. “Here.”

“So, Coffee Boy,” Imai started.

“I  _ already _ told you my name,” Hoshino sighed with a hint of exasperation.

“No, that’s your  _ family _ name,” Imai specified. “You didn’t tell us your given name.”

“Does it matter?” Hoshino groaned.

“Whenever I think of ‘Hoshino’, all that comes to mind is the coffee itself,” Imai grumbles.

“The brand, right?” Yuta piped in.

“Yeah, exactly,” Imai nodded.

“You both think so too?” Atsushi added almost gleefully.

“It’s my family name,” Hoshino reiterated through gritted teeth and an exhausted frown on his face. “And it’s a fairly common one at that.”

“But it’s  _ also _ the coffee brand,” Atsushi emphasised.

Dragging a hand down his face, Hoshino let out a loud exhale and paused for a moment before mumbled, “Hidehiko.”

“What?” Imai blurted.

Eyes squeezed shut, Hoshino pressed his thumb and index finger against his nose bridge as he said, “Hoshino Hidehiko. My full name.”

“Hide it is,” Imai immediately decided.

“Hah?” Cof-, Hide looked up in bewilderment. 

“Hide’s easier to say than Hidehiko,” Imai explained simply as he sucked on his cigarette. Moving on without waiting for an answer from Hide, he asked, “Come to think of it, why do you need a change of clothes?”

“Uh… I missed the last train,” Hide replied. “And…” He glanced at his wristwatch. “If I head home now, I’d have to leave by the time I get back so…”

“The heck?” Imai blurted. “How far away is your place?”

“A… couple of hours by train.”

“And you come here to start prepping for service at what time?”

“Around six, usually,” Hide responded with a sigh. “Then I open at seven.”

“Why would you open a stall so far away from home?” Atsushi asked quietly, visibly perturbed by Hide’s schedule. “You can’t even spend a night out to wind down like this.”

Hide sighed again. “I actually wanted to hold off opening until I found somewhere nearer to stay, but… decisions were made without me.”

“It sounds like you’re still looking for a place,” Atsushi remarked with a strange look in his eye.

“Technically, yes but with the way that things are right now… I haven’t really had the time to look at listings,” Hide griped. “I didn’t find any nearby listings the last time I checked anyway.”   


“Well… There  _ is _ one place,” Imai mentioned as he turned to smirk at Yuta.

In an instant, Hide’s eyes lit up. “Is there?”

Yuta eyes grew wide with warning and he replied, “No.”

Imai’s smirk turned into a grin. “You’ve got an empty room, don’t you? Since Anii moved out a couple of months ago.” 

Yuta started to deny, “But it’s not for rent.”

“Ah, but, you listed it for rent but took it down just some weeks after that, right?” Atsushi recalled.

“Because I changed my mind!” Yuta reasoned.

“What are you going to do with an empty room, though?” Imai asked, sucking on his cigarette.

“I don’t know yet but-”

“He could stay there until you figure it out,” Imai suggested.

“I’m… not sure if that’s a good idea,” Hide suddenly spoke out.

“See!” Yuta angled his hand towards Hide. “He’s not sure either!”

“Well, at least for the night?” Imai pressed. “You can’t expect him to continue sleeping in the storeroom, right?”

“No, I can do that. It’s fine,” Hide started to decline.

“You’re going to need a bathroom to shower in, though,” Imai pointed out. “And there aren’t any public baths in this area,” he added.

“Ah, shit, really?” Hide swore with a troubled grimace.

“I’m not offering you my bathroom,” Imai cautioned.

“It’s not available,” Atsushi added curtly.

“I don’t really want to impose any more than I already have anyway,” Hide responded quietly.

“Which leaves us with…” Imai cast his glace in Yuta’s direction again.

Yuta scowled at him. Why was Imai so adamant about making Hide put up in his home? 

“You brought him here, you take care of him,” Imai said to Yuta in a low voice. 

Yuta pressed his lips thin and huffed as he looked away. Imai had a point. He did initiate this, after all. “Fine,” Yuta finally relented. “But just for tonight, you hear?”


	9. 9

It’s five past one in the morning now and Yuta was finally back at home, sitting on his own couch and watching a rerun of a recent Hanshin Tigers game while waiting for his turn to shower. Although he had a cold beer and a fresh pack of cigarettes with him, he wasn’t quite enjoying his usual pastime. Rather, he was feeling miffed about the way this situation had turned around onto him.

Then again, it was probably Yuta’s fault for not thinking any further past the impulse to find a change of clothes for Coffee Boy-, no,  _ Hide _ . And now, Yuta had to wait to use the bathroom in his own home; something he hasn’t had to do in a couple of months since his brother, Toll decided to move back to their hometown to help out at their father’s company.

“I’m done with city life,” Toll had said. He did always grumble about how much he preferred things back home anyway.

The bathroom door slid open and Yuta automatically turned his head towards the noise. Hide was just stepping out of the bathroom, his still-damp thick, black hair slicked back and still… shirtless. At least he had the decency to wrap the bath towel around his waist.

As awkward as Yuta felt at seeing the almost-naked as-good-as-stranger in his apartment, it felt as if his eyes were like iron drawn to the magnet that is Hide’s well-defined torso. Sure, it wasn’t  _ perfectly _ defined but the lines and curves which made up his toned arms and pecs and abs were still pretty obvious.

Yuta surmised that his initial guess about Hide having some sort of athletic background was probably right. But why would someone who looked as fit as he start a coffee stall? Or was this just a temporary stint before he goes into a sporting career? Yuta could already imagine Hide on a baseball field. Or perhaps soccer? After all, those thigh and calf muscles were quite something too.

“Yes?” Hide asked softly, stopping in front of Yuta.

“What?”

“You were staring at me.”

Shit. “No, I wasn’t,” Yuta denied and turned his attention back to the baseball game. Taking a quick drink from his can of beer, he then added, “I was just thinking. And you happened to be standing there.”

“Oh.”

Silence promptly ensued but for some reason, Hide continued standing there instead of proceeding to get dressed. It felt really awkward. So much so that even the noise from the TV wasn’t helping. Well, at least, it felt that way to Yuta. After all, he couldn’t quite fathom why Hide had no sense of urgency for getting dressed. Wasn’t it weird enough that he was going to be staying the night with someone he barely knew?

On second thought, that sounded like the literal definition of a one-night stand.

“Um, I was thinking,” Hide started speaking again, “about compensating you-”

“W-we can talk about that tomorrow,” Yuta quickly cut him off. Good god, he did not like where his brain was going. “It’s getting pretty late, isn’t it? And you’re supposed to wake up much earlier than me.”

“But-”

“Let me think about it first. We can talk about this again tomorrow morning,” Yuta pressed. “Just… go to bed,” he urged, waving a hand in dismissal. “You can forget about catching up on sleep if you want to start this topic now.”

“Well… I guess… if you say so.” Hide sounded like he was giving in. The quiet shuffle of his feet against the parquet flooring went past Yuta. “Goodnight, then,” he said somewhat hesitantly.

“Yeah, ‘night,” Yuta returned, waving his hand again without looking at him. Keeping his eyes glued to the screen, Yuta heard the room door open and then clicked close. 

Now, Yuta finally had space to himself again. Stretching his arms and legs out, he let out a satisfied sigh and crumpled into the couch more comfortably. Well, he still needed a bath but he could do that after this game. There was only a little less than an hour more to go anyway.

While the game was entertaining, Yuta found himself thinking back to his earlier interaction with Hide again. He sure hoped he misinterpreted it. It wasn’t that he had anything against gay relationships, after all, Acchan and Imai were  _ definitely  _ a thing even if they wouldn’t say it outright, but…

Thinking about it again, Yuta started chuckling to himself and shaking his head. No, he must have misinterpreted it. How absurd it was that he bought into the most far-fetched possibility so immediately. Besides, why would someone like Hide, who gets so much female attention, be interested in him?


	10. 10

“Hey.”

Yuta felt a nudge against his shoulder. Humming low, he swatted a hand at that spot in an attempt to shoo away whatever was waking him from his nice, satisfying sleep.

“You really slept here all night?”

Yuta frowned and curled up deeper into his little corner. Would his brother stop bothering him? Why should he move? He felt perfectly comfortable here. 

“Wouldn't you be better off sleeping in your room?” 

Yuta grunted and swatted again. Goodness, he almost forgot how naggy his brother was. He sure was glad when Toll moved out… Wait, Toll moved out a couple of months ago. And now that he thought about it, the voice bugging him didn’t sound like his brother either. But if it wasn’t Toll then, who…?

Eyes snapping open, Yuta stiffly turned to look up at the chiselled, unshaven face of his new stall neighbour, Hide asking, “Are… you alright?”

Yuta stared at Hide in silence, wondering for a moment what the man was doing in his apartment until his brain started waking up and bringing back memories of what happened last night. Right, yes, Hide stayed the night, but why was he hovering over Yuta now?

“I know you said we’ll talk about it in the morning, but I need to go downstairs and start getting ready,” Hide said as he retreated and ran his hands through his messy shoulder-length hair.

Yuta couldn’t help but notice the way his biceps flexed as Hide tied his hair up. Plain as it was, the tank top which Atsushi lent Hide turned out to be really flattering on the man.

“So, um, maybe later?” Hide continued. He looked somewhat anxious. Yuta couldn’t guess why. “Or, whenever you feel like it,” he added quickly.

“Uh, yeah,” Yuta muttered, slowly sitting up. He couldn’t think of anything else to say as he watched Hide adjust the rather fitting tank top and pat his borrowed Bermuda shorts down.

Turning to Yuta, Hide asked, “I look fine, right? Not weird?”

“Uh-huh.”

Hide nodded vigorously to himself in agreement as if convincing himself. “Yeah, I don’t normally dress like this,” he mumbled, glancing at Yuta. “Anyway… I’ll take all my things with me,” Hide announced, showing Yuta the folded bundle of yesterday’s clothes. “We’ll talk about it later?” he asked again.

Yuta nodded. Hide sure was talking a lot this morning. Yuta had the impression that he was a quiet man, but maybe he was wrong. Especially since Hide seemed to be particularly intent on talking again sometime later in the day. 

“Okay, I’ll… see you later then,” Hide said while walking to the stairs. “And, um, thanks,” he added with a backward glance, “for letting me sleep here last night.”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Yuta said just as he started yawning. He sure was ready to go back to sleep.

Hide’s footsteps sounded surprisingly light descending the stairs and once Yuta heard his front door close, he lay back down on the couch with a loud sigh. He turned his head to look at the clock above the TV. Six in the morning. Hide wasn’t lying about starting preparations at six, then. Yuta shook his head and let out a scoff. He could never do that. 

Yuta’s eyes continued to wander around his small living room and just then, he noticed that the TV was off. The coffee table and ashtray before him was also clean; free of beer cans, ashes, and cigarette butts. That was an unusual sight. Well, the table was usually  _ clean enough _ but Yuta couldn’t remember the last time it was  _ this _ clean. Did… Hide clean it up? 

Humming, Yuta stared up at the ceiling. He was sure that he couldn’t have cleared the coffee table before he fell asleep, though. After all, Yuta didn’t even know  _ when _ he fell asleep.

Well, it was nice of Hide to do that without Yuta asking but there was one thing that bugged Yuta. The way Hide spoke earlier sounded like Yuta should know what he meant but Yuta couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out was the “it” which Hide wanted to speak to him about. He could only hope it wasn’t anything bad.


	11. 11

Sitting on the top of the stepladder, Yuta hugged a carton box full of plastic cups to his body as he transferred them into the overhead cupboards. Considering how much sales had slowed recently, he should probably give his supplier a call and tell them to put a hold on the deliveries. He was running out of space to store all of these things. I t was quick work, and once the box was empty, Yuta leaned away and kept his head out of the way as he closed the cupboard.

Turning around, Yuta began to stand up and prepared to descend when behind him, a voice spoke, "Hey."

Startled, Yuta almost lost his balance as he let out a loud curse and dropped the empty box to clutch the stepladder. Likewise, the voice behind him cursed back in response. Hurried footsteps thumped towards Yuta accompanied by the noticeable scent of freshly-ground coffee amidst a profuse apology.

"Don't do that!" Yuta hissed as he snapped his head to the offender who turned out to be… Hide.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” Hide cringed, approaching with his arms held out towards Yuta.

“Don’t appear out of nowhere, then!” Yuta retorted while quickly hopping off the stepladder without Hide’s assistance. Picking up the box he dropped, Yuta flattened it and asked, “What are you even doing here? It’s only…” He glanced at the wall clock. “Five past eleven in the morning? Shouldn’t you be swamped with customers at this time?”

“Well, yes, but I put an away sign on the counter and snuck out the backdoor,” Hide muttered sheepishly.

“And into mine!?”

“… Yes.”

“Why?!”

“I brought lunch,” Hide replied hastily, pointing to a brown paper bag and a medium-sized cup of beverage placed on a nearby space at the counter. “Well, I mean, they’re muffins from this morning but they’re fresh!”

Something about this whole situation made Yuta feel hesitant about accepting this… offer. Shifting glances between the food and Hide, he asked tersely, “What’s this for?”

“You!” Hide said, gesturing towards Yuta as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“No- I mean, why did you bring me food?” Yuta asked as he tucked the flattened cardboard box under his arm. Picking up the stepladder and folding it in one fluid motion, he started waddling towards the storeroom and added, “After all, you’ve never done this before.”

“Let me,” Hide offered softly and took the stepladder from Yuta.

“I can handle it myself!” Yuta snapped but Hide had already walked off.

“I was actually thinking that… perhaps we started off on the wrong foot,” Hide said as he turned around and looked at Yuta. Lifting the stepladder slightly, he muttered, “Um, where does this-”

“Open the door behind you and put it by the side,” Yuta instructed, waving his finger around in some nonsensical pattern. The task was, at least, simple enough that Hide couldn’t get it wrong.

“So, I was wondering if we could start over on a clean slate again,” Hide said, eyes darting to the side as he closed the storeroom door. 

Yuta replied with a cutting, “What for?”

Hide’s mention of ‘it’ early this morning had left him perplexed and until now, he had yet to figure out exactly what Hide was referring to but it felt as if this had something to do with ‘it’. After all, what else could there be to inspire Hide’s sudden niceties? Sure, the impromptu stayover might be a reason, but Yuta made it clear that it was going to be a one-off thing, didn’t he? Unless… 

“Well… I…” Hide scrunched up his face and rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. He seemed to be having difficulty with finding the words for whatever it may be. “I…”

“Has this got anything to do with ‘it’?” Yuta asked abruptly. Might as well get to the point.

Hide looked up at him, eyes wide with surprise. “It?” he echoed.

“You mentioned ‘it’ this morning,” Yuta reminded. “You said you wanted us to talk about ‘it’-”

“Ah, yeah, that’s… pretty much it,” Hide nodded with a tense look.

“So? What’s ‘it’?”

“I wanted to compensate you for letting me stay over.”

“C-compensate?” Yuta echoed, slightly taken aback. That line seemed to ring a bell for him, though. 

“And also to ask if…” Hide’s voice quickly devolved into an incoherent mumble as he went on.

Yuta frowned, “Ask what?”

“Um,” Hide grimaced and looked away again. “I… I wanted to ask if you’d let me…” He was inaudible again.

Yuta stifled a groan and pinched his nose bridge. “Look, I can’t give you an answer if I can’t hear you.”

“Will you let me stay in your extra room?” Hide blurted with an anxious look in his eyes as he wrung his hands.

Yuta stared at him blankly, taking a long moment to register what Hide had just asked of him. Was this… ‘it’? Well, it makes sense but, “No.”

“No?”

“No,” Yuta repeated with a firm shake of his head.

“B-but…” Hide was stunned by Yuta’s reply. Struggling to find words for a response, all he could manage was, “… Why?”

“I never intended to find a housemate,” Yuta shrugged.

“But you pay rent, don’t you?” Hide guessed as he attempted to convince Yuta. “Considering your situation, I could pay part of that-”

“Actually, no,” Yuta interrupted. “I bought the lot.”

“ … Oh.”

“Although…” Yuta folded his arms and rubbed his chin, “I  _ do _ have to furnish the loan.”

“I’ll pay you rent,” Hide suggested. “You could name your price…?”

“Name my price?” Yuta echoed. As a smile spread on his face, he said, “A million yen.”

“A month?!”

“Yes, a month.”

“No!”

“You said to name my price,” Yuta smirked.

“A  _ reasonable _ price, please,” Hide stressed.

“Is a million not reasonable when you’ve affected my profits so badly?” Yuta retorted. 

“But I…” Hide groaned and rubbed his face. He looked genuinely distressed. “What if we went by percentage? Like, maybe, thirty percent?”

“It wouldn’t be worth it when all the fanfare over your stall dies down, would it?” Yuta raised. “Besides, how much are you earning for this month?”

“I don’t know yet,” Hide sighed, shoulders slumping. “I haven’t even found the time to do the math for this first month…”

Yuta watched quietly as the man fell silent and got lost in his thoughts. Hide’s dejected form made Yuta feel kind of bad for throwing such a ridiculous number at him. Especially when the man took it so seriously.

“You know, I’m just kidding about the million yen,” Yuta eventually said.

Hide looked up at him, relief evident in his eyes. “Really?”

“How’s a hundred thousand sound to you?” Yuta asked. It was probably below the typical rate for this area, but it should be more than enough for Yuta to pay his monthly dues for the loan. Although, needless to say, being this charitable to someone who had been hurting his business didn’t quite make sense to him. It made him feel weird too but…

“I believe I can do that,” Hide nodded.

“Plus! Utilities,” Yuta quickly added. He almost forgot about it. “We split the utility bill. Equally.”

“Deal,” Hide nodded with a smile and stuck his hand out.

Yuta looked at the hand hovering in mid-air as second thoughts suddenly came to mind; did he really want to live with someone he barely knew? Sure, the extra income from Hide’s rent would help to ease the strain on his pockets a little bit. But that's only if Hide keeps to his word and does actually pay up. Although, if Hide really wanted to stay here, it wouldn’t be smart of him to let Yuta default on the payments and get them both evicted, would it?

The longer Yuta took with his reconsidering, the more anxious Hide looked. It was plain that Hide really wanted this.

“Though,” Hide started, his hand slowly dropping, “if you need some time to think about it-”

“Deal,” Yuta abruptly slapped his hand into Hide’s callused palm and shook it once, hard. “Just make sure you pay me or else we’re both going to end up sleeping on the streets.”

“Yes!” Hide pulled Yuta into a suffocating hug. “Thank you! You won’t regret this!”

“Let me go!” Yuta exclaimed. And Hide did.

Dropping the smaller man on his feet, Hide muttered a quick, “Sorry,” followed by, “I’ll bring some of my belongings over tonight, then.”

“Tonight!?” Yuta didn’t expect the agreement to take effect so immediately.

“Ah, I mean…” Hide visibly reined his enthusiasm in. “Then again, we haven’t exactly agreed on a commencement date…”

“Argh, whatever! Tonight it is,” Yuta grumbled, waving his hands in exasperation as he turned and stepped out into the shop front. Tonight, tomorrow, next week; what difference would it make when Hide had already stayed the night once? Yuta didn’t really need to prepare anything anyway. Maybe, except for an extra key.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to force it,” Hide started declining.

“The only problem is, I don’t have a key for you,” Yuta went on, walking out as he ignored Hide’s words. “I’m going out for drinks tonight so I’ll pass you my key when I close shop,” he added as he turned around. He expected to see Hide walking with him but instead, the man remained in the back. “Why are you standing there?”

“I can’t go out there,” Hide said with a chagrined smile. “The queue would see me.”

Yuta looked outside and observed the growing queue of ladies standing out in the hot summer sunshine with disgruntled expressions on their faces. It sure doesn’t look like they’ll be fun to deal with.

“I think it’s about time for you to go back,” Yuta said, walking back to Hide.

Hide nodded quickly and started towards the backdoor, but paused to look Yuta in the eye and said, “Thank you for letting me stay on such short notice.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, you’re welcome,” Yuta muttered, embarrassed by Hide’s sincerity. Did he have to be so intense? Not knowing what else to say, he repeated, “I’ll just pass you the key later.”

“Thanks,” Hide beamed once more and finally left.

“Yeah,” Yuta muttered to himself. It was only then that he remembered the coffee and muffins which Hide brought over. He opened the plain paper bag with scepticism, but that quickly went away when he was greeted with a buttery fragrance. 

Yuta let out an amused hum. “Thank  _ you _ for the lunch,” he mumbled to himself as he sat down on a high stool. This was a definite mood booster. Maybe having that guy around was proving to be a good thing after all.


	12. 12

"So, Yuta, I heard…"

There was a pause while Yuta raised his head from his yakisoba with suspicion nagging in the back of his mind. Across the table from him sat his close friend, Kanemitsu. They would usually meet to watch baseball together but there were no games today. Today, they were simply catching up over dinner and drinks. But having known this man for as long as he did, Yuta knew that whenever this guy starts a conversation with those words, it couldn't be anything good.

"I heard, from a little bird that…  _ a man _ ," Kanemitsu paused dramatically, "left your front door this morning."

"And?" Yuta retorted brusquely.

"And," Kanemitsu went on, "you passed that same man your house keys just before you came here."

"Who's your little bird?" Yuta asked, pressing his lips thin.

“As if I’d ever reveal my sources to you,” Kanemitsu smirked.

Yuta huffed and nodded once. Fair enough.

“So?” Kanemitsu probed. “What’s the juice?”

Yuta scrunched his face up in confusion. “Juice?” 

“The dirt! The gossip! The story!” Kanemitsu went as he grew more and more excited with each new synonym.

“For goodness sake, calm down,” Yuta groaned, eyes shifting around as he felt the second-hand embarrassment from Kanemitsu’s theatrics. “He’s just renting Anii’s room. That’s all.”

“Just renting Anii’s room?” Kanemitsu repeated. “ _ Just _ renting Anii’s room?”

“Yes? How hard is it to understand that?” Yuta frowned.

“You weren’t even interested in leasing it out last we spoke,” Kanemitsu pointed out.

“Well, situation’s changed,” Yuta shrugged. “It happens.”

“Changed how?” Kanemitsu interrogated.

“Shop’s not doing too well recently,” Yuta revealed.

“Ah, right,” Kanemitsu nodded as his fist hit his other palm. “You mentioned that a new coffee shop recently opened up next door.”

“Yeah,” Yuta replied. “And, you know, since he’s the reason for my loss of sales-”   


“Wait,” Kanemitsu interrupted. “Your tenant’s the coffee shop guy?”

“Uh-huh,” Yuta confirmed. “Didn’t your informant tell you that?” he smirked, glad to finally find something that Kanemitsu hadn’t known.

“No,” Kanemitsu muttered glumly. Eyes darting to the side, he mumbled to himself, “It’s probably about time we had a proper talk.”

“Anyway,” Yuta continued, “he wanted to live somewhere closer to his stall and he asked so this is the result.”

“Bet you fleeced your competitor,” Kanemitsu chuckled.

“Uh…”

Kanemitsu looked at Yuta with obvious surprise. “What? Don’t tell me you didn’t.”

“I wanted to but…” Yuta looked away and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. 

“Now that’s downright unusual coming from you,” Kanemitsu exclaimed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Yuta retorted, offended.

“You’re telling me that  _ the _ notorious Higuchi Yutaka didn’t fleece the hell out of his rival?”

“Tch,” Yuta waved a dismissive hand. “Haven’t I said that I’m past that?”

“Hah! Like hell you are,” Kanemitsu returned with disbelief. “Well then, how much is he going to pay you?”

“A hundred thousand.”

Kanemitsu stared at Yuta with his mouth agape. “You’ve got to be kidding me. A room’s going for  _ at least _ twice the price in that area. There’s no way-”

“You know, at least he cleans up the house  _ and _ gives me free food, so that’s a plus,” Yuta added.

“Aha!” Kanemitsu snapped his fingers. “He’s your servant!”

“No!”

“Who’s whose servant?” Another voice piped up.

“No one’s a servant!” Yuta denied, snapping his head to the voice. “Ah, hello, Issay,” he greeted the slender, dark-eyed man. “Long time no see.”

“May I join you?” Issay asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Kanemitsu beckoned as he made space for him. “Help me interrogate Yuta.”

“Oy!” 

“With pleasure,” Issay grinned, putting a glass of clear liquor down. “Now, what’s this about a servant?”

“No-!”

“Yuta’s got someone new renting a room from him, and that guy’s cooking and cleaning for him too,” Kanemitsu summarised.

“Oh, wow, he’s paying you  _ and _ doing your household chores?” Issay remarked. “That’s worse than being a slave,” he laughed.

“It’s not like that!” Yuta denied. “He wanted to live near to his store but he couldn’t find a place so he asked for mine,” he explained. “Besides,  _ he’s _ the one who took the initiative to clean up this morning and offered me food without me asking too!”

“Ahh, I see,” Issay nodded with a knowing smile. “And he’s sharing a room with you?” 

“No!” Yuta denied again loudly. “He’s taking Anii’s room!”

“Hah? Toll willing to share with him?” Issay asked, confused.

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Kanemitsu spoke up. “Anii moved out a couple of months ago. Went back to their hometown to help out with the family business or something.”

“What?” Issay sounded surprised. “I didn’t expect him to do that,” he muttered. “I wonder what Toll would have to say about this.”

“Well, he moved out so this has nothing to do with him,” Yuta dismissed. “Come to think of it, what are you doing here, Issay?” he asked.

“Performing my usual song and dance, of course,” Issay smiled. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Oh, no, sorry,” Yuta apologised sheepishly. “I was too absorbed with trying to eat my yakisoba while getting interrogated by  _ someone _ .” He shot Kanemitsu a look before continuing, “Besides, I didn’t see you the past few times I came here, neither have you come by with your bike of frozen treats in a while so I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.”

“Ah, that’s true,” Issay agreed with an unreadable expression. “Life has been a bit too taxing for me to indulge in my hobbies,” he chuckled and squinted his large eyes in mirth. “Does Atsushi-kun miss me?” Issay asked casually.

“You know he doesn't tell me these things,” Yuta replied with a hint of regret. He knew this was not the answer Issay was hoping for, but he couldn’t lie.

“Yes,” came Issay’s subdued yet melancholic answer.

“Aha, speak of the devil,” Kanemitsu interjected, his line of sight trained on the entrance.

Yuta craned his neck as he leaned out of their booth. Straight ahead in his unobstructed view were Atsushi and Imai who had just walked in. Both of them were searching the room, until Kanemitsu raised his arm up in the air and yelled, “Over here!”

Yuta could see Imai’s eyes light up with recognition as he tapped on Atsushi’s shoulder and led him towards their table. Finally, everyone who was supposed to be here was here, along with the unexpected guest Issay. Yuta could only hope that he wouldn’t have to spend the rest of the night explaining Hide’s tenancy to all of them.


	13. 13

Yuta stifled a yawn as he trudged through the quiet streets at 4 am. He had left the izakaya ahead of the rest for the night had gone exactly as he feared; everyone wanted to know more about Hide and his living situation. Yuta sighed to himself. He didn’t have any more information to add than what they already knew, but they were convinced otherwise. So, the only thing left for him to do was make his escape.

Had Yuta known that this arrangement would bring so much unwanted attention onto himself, he probably wouldn’t have made that deal with Hide in the first place. Now the whole street was going to hear about this by tomorrow morning and there was nothing Yuta could do about it.

Ruffling up his shoulder-length hair, Yuta let out a heavy groan followed by a sigh of resignation. He wasn’t looking forward to the curious inquiries which were bound to come. Although… Yuta swept his hair back with a hand and tapped his chin. Maybe he could make the busybodies spend their money in return for information.

A smile slowly grew and Yuta’s mood lifted. Perhaps he could turn the situation to his favour after all. Not that he had much else to lose, to begin with. It would be exhausting to repeat the same answers over and over again throughout the day, though. Heck, he couldn’t even deal with a few hours of it. But with the prospect of making money, he could bear with it. Maybe even come up with a few canned responses or something.

Now grinning to himself, Yuta continued on his way home as he started thinking about possible questions and answers to anticipate. Only, his thoughts kept getting interrupted by the sound of a separate set of footsteps. Perplexed, Yuta stopped and turned around but there was no one behind him except for a man who was trailing behind him some distance away. He frowned when the man stopped. Where did this person come from? There really shouldn’t be anyone around here at this time of the night.

Something wasn't quite right. Yuta’s gut clenched as he shifted back to continue on his way. Despite the alcohol in his system, he was now alert. Yuta quickened his pace, his footsteps turning heavier than before with his single-minded desire to get home as soon as possible. He'd better keep his guard up in case-

The second set of footsteps came closer.

Yuta wanted to curse under his breath yet at the same time, he wanted to simply sigh. Of all the times this had to happen, it had to be the one time he decided to leave the party early. Maybe it was a sign that he was always meant to stay with everyone until morning. Regardless, Yuta had no idea who this person was or what they might want but he should probably try to lose them. He most certainly did not intend to bring a stranger home tonight. Not when he just got a new housemate.

There were no cars on the road but the traffic light shone red at the first cross junction he came to so Yuta stopped. On second thought, maybe stopping when he was being followed was not a good idea, but Yuta had to decide whether he was going to go across or not. After all, home was situated just up ahead.

Anxiety steadily built up in Yuta’s chest, almost bordering on alarm as he listened to the footsteps growing louder. Then, the moment the light turned green, Yuta swerved to the left and clicked his tongue loudly. He made a show of smacking his fist into this palm before shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket to briskly walk away from the crossing. He would try to lose his tail. He didn’t fancy the thought of letting a stranger know where he lived.

Unfortunately, Yuta barely walked a few steps from the crossing when a hand grabbed his shoulder. He immediately shrugged it off and spun on his heel with a loud curse followed by an exclamation of, “What d’you want?!”

Now, Yuta finally had his shadow close enough for him to see who it was. The face before him was not someone he expected to see, but it was also not one that he wanted to see. It was one of the kids who used to hang around him. What was his name again…?

“Ahha! I knew I’d recognise that silhouette anywhere!” the man exclaimed excitedly. “Oh, sorry, I mean,” he sank into a deep bow, “long time no see, b-!”

“Don’t call me that!” Yuta snapped before he could finish. This was worrying. Where on earth did he come from? Yuta hadn't seen anyone from those days in so long that he thought he managed to slip out clean. Maybe he was mistaken after all. “What are you doing here!?”

“Ah, I was actually just on my way home when I saw you walking back there,” the man pointed in some general direction behind him. “And I thought you looked really familiar but I wasn’t sure so I wanted to see if I was right because you suddenly disappeared and no one knew where you went-”

“Because I  _ don’t _ want anyone to look for me!” Yuta retorted, annoyed. “And I didn’t disappear, I  _ quit _ ,” he emphasised. “I had enough of all that and I quit,” Yuta said to the man’s crestfallen face. “Now stop following me and leave me alone,” he concluded as he turned on his heel to walk away.

Yuta's words didn't seem to have convinced Goto. Ah, yes, that was the kid’s name. The man continued to follow him, saying, “But we want you to come back! The new guy sucks…”

“No!” Yuta responded sharply. “I’m done with it! Besides, you all asked for that!”

“But-”

"Leave me alone, damn it!" Yuta cut in angrily. Spotting the light of a convenience store in front, he sped up, making a beeline for the store while the man continued to pepper him with questions from behind.

Strangely enough, when Yuta went in, Goto didn't follow. Instead, he opted to stand outside and pace around, occasionally casting dejected glances at Yuta while he tried and failed to focus on looking for something to buy. Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to the alcoholic beverages aisle.

Yuta may have earlier thought that he had enough for the night, but maybe not. He felt like he might need a drink after he got home. That is  _ if _ he could. He definitely could not go home now with Goto following him. If he found out where Yuta lived, the whole gang would know by tomorrow and… Yuta really didn’t want to leave this place. He liked what he did now and although it didn’t rake in all that much money, it was honest work.

The store’s doorbell chimed and someone walked in. Yuta cursed under his breath. Did Goto decide to come in too? Craning his neck, Yuta cautiously peeked over the top shelf. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. Hide? What was he doing here? Well, whatever the reason, Yuta could use this stroke of luck to get an accomplice to help him.

Yuta glanced at Goto who still stood outside. The kid now had his back to him. It looked like he was smoking. He turned to Hide. He was peering at the cartons of milk in a fridge. Yuta hissed loudly, hoping to catch Hide’s attention. The first time didn’t work. Yuta furrowed his brow and wrinkled his nose. He hissed again, trying to be louder and doing it more times than before. And it worked.

When Hide raised his head and looked around, Yuta beckoned him with a quick wave. Hide jerked as if surprised to see Yuta but he came to him all the same.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Hide said.

"I was already on my way home," Yuta replied, eyes trained on Goto once more.

"Ah, I guess we can go back together. Just let me grab some milk and eggs. Are you getting anything?" Hide asked.

"Uh, perfect, yeah," Yuta muttered and grabbed a random bottle of sake.

"What are you looking at?" Hide suddenly leaned closer to Yuta in an attempt to follow his line of sight.

Yuta caught a faint whiff of body soap as he instinctively jerked away at the proximity. "Nothing," he mumbled. That was a little too close for comfort.

"You know that guy?" Hide asked as Goto glanced in their direction.

"Used to," Yuta replied curtly. Shoving Hide towards the drinks fridge, he said, "C'mon, hurry up. Let's get your stuff and go home. I need to squeeze in some sleep before I open shop."

"Is that guy bothering you?" Hide asked, casting Yuta a concerned glance as he hesitantly picked out a carton of milk. "Should I ask him to leave?"

"I can do that myself," Yuta responded. "I don't care if he follows me but I'd prefer it if he doesn't figure out where I stay."

" … Do you want me to tell him to leave?"

Yuta put his hands on his hips and frowned hard at Hide. "No."

"Wouldn't it be easier-"

"If he follows us, we try and lose him before we get home," Yuta dictated.

Hide wrinkled his nose in obvious disagreement but gave in and huffed reluctantly, "Fine. If you say so."


	14. 14

Yuta felt tense as he approached the exit of the convenience store with Hide in tow. The taller man had insisted on carrying all the groceries himself, so Yuta had the luxury to stuff his hands into his jacket pockets while making an effort to ignore the ever-persistent Goto who continued to wait this entire time.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry anything?” Yuta asked, turning around to face Hide with his back to Goto. He glanced down at the veins in Hide’s right hand already popping from the strain of carrying two cartons of milk and a large glass bottle of sake. “I can carry my own sake, you know?”

“It’s fine. I can handle it,” Hide repeated for the umpteenth time and glanced behind Yuta. He was probably keeping an eye on Goto.

“Wouldn’t it be less strain on your fingers if you balanced the weight out between both hands, though?” Yuta pointed out and walked through the automatic doors. “You’re only carrying the eggs on the left-”

“Fine, fine, fine, you carry the eggs then,” Hide relented with a grumble of frustration. Holding the plastic bag with the eggs up, he waited for Yuta to present his open palm before putting the scrunched up handles into his hand. Looking straight at Yuta, Hide then said, “Be careful with them.”

“Oh, come on, they’re just eggs,” Yuta dismissed, albeit unnerved by Hide’s intense stare.

“They’re breakfast,” Hide corrected. “And I need them for baking,” he added.

“Baking?”

“Where did you think the muffins came from?”

Yuta’s eyes grew large as he exclaimed, “Wha-!”

“So, is this your new guy?” Goto’s voice cut in.

“New guy?” Hide echoed, raising an eyebrow.

“No! He’s not!” Yuta immediately responded. He hoped that Goto would be less chatty with Hide, a person unknown to him around, but perhaps Yuta was being a little too optimistic. 

“You joined him?” Goto asked.

“No!”

“ … What?” Hide sounded utterly perplexed.

“Your new lieutenant, then?”

“No! What part of me quitting the whole… that…” Yuta gesticulated wildly as he struggled to find the right words which wouldn't give his past associations away to Hide, “… all that… stuff don’t you understand?! That’s not the kind of relationship we have!”

“L-lieutenant?” Hide leaned towards Yuta again. “What’s he talking about?”

“Ignore him! We’re leaving,” Yuta quickly responded, grabbing Hide’s forearm and pulling the man along in the opposite direction from home.

Hide naturally resisted. “Wait, isn’t-!”

Yuta shot him a look but not without a cursory glance at Goto who was coming up behind Hide. It barely took Hide a second to recall what their plan was; to shake Goto off before going home.

Nodding, Hide let Yuta continue on, saying, “I’ll follow you.”

Unfortunately, as Yuta expected, Goto followed them and continued his grilling. “Or is this guy your lackey?” he asked.

“No!” Yuta snapped, annoyed by the questions. “I already told you! He’s got nothing to do with any of that stuff! He just lives with me!” he yelled.

The silence which ensued made it sound as if Yuta’s words echoed into the night. Then again, it probably did. He might have just raised his voice a little  _ too  _ loudly just then.

For a blissful moment, Yuta thought his answer had finally quelled Goto’s curiosity and that they managed to leave him behind, but just as Yuta was about to let his guard down, Goto spoke again. “He lives with you, as in… that?”

“Hah?!” Yuta almost stopped in his tracks as he looked over his shoulder.

“Is he why you quit?” Goto asked, sounding a little less brash and a little more careful than just a mere minute ago. “Did you… argh, what’s that word where you run away with-”

“Elope?” Hide offered.

“Hah!?”

“Yes! That!” Goto snapped his fingers. 

“Yes, that,” Hide nodded firmly.

“What!?” Yuta snapped his head to Hide in alarm. What on earth was Hide playing at?

“Really?!” Goto gave Hide and Yuta a wide-eyed stare. “You’re why he left us?” he asked, specifically addressing Hide.

“Yes.” “No!”

“What are you saying?” Yuta hissed at Hide who looked down at him with a hard stare.

“Don’t do this to me,” Hide replied, brow furrowing.

“Wha-”

“What’s the point of all of this if you’re going to deny it?” Hide interrupted and winked twice.

Yuta’s face was still frozen in bewilderment as he took a moment to process Hide’s words, then finally, it clicked. Fine. He’ll play along. “Ah, well.” Yuta took a deep breath and turned to Goto, “Yes.” He pointed at Hide. “Yes, it’s because of him.”

Yuta could feel his heart pounding in his chest as Goto’s eyes darted around, searching Hide’s and Yuta’s face for any sign that they might be joking. In all honesty, he wasn’t convinced that Hide’s idea of playing up some sort of relationship would deter Goto’s curiosity and he was seriously worried about possible repercussions of using this method, but Yuta supposed he was now in a little too deep to go back now. He could only hope that this worked.

After what felt like an eternity, Goto started nodding as he said, “Well, why didn’t you say so from the beginning? You don’t think I’d support my aniki’s love life?”

Yuta almost flinched at Goto’s use of the title and his statement, but he managed to school his expression to dismissively reply, “Letting this become common knowledge would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Ah…”

“Besides, I don’t want to drag an outsider into all of… that,” Yuta added, gesturing vaguely again. “You understand why I don’t want you coming after me?” he asked Goto.

Goto nodded with obvious reluctance.

“We’re gonna go now,” Yuta said, adjusting the plastic bag in his hands as he slowly turned to leave. “Stop following us, got it?”

“You really won’t come back?” Goto asked, looking like a forlorn puppy.

“I won’t,” Yuta replied firmly. “Goodbye,” he bade and walked off without a second glance.

Hide followed Yuta but he couldn’t resist looking over his shoulder. “I feel kinda sorry for him,” he commented softly. 

“Ignore him,” Yuta told him. “He shouldn’t have come looking for me in the first place.”

“Well, aren’t you cold,” Hide huffed.

Yuta didn’t feel like replying to him and an awkward silence fell, hanging around between them as they quietly walked the rest of their detour home.


	15. 15

“Do you want something to eat?” Hide asked as he put the milk and Yuta’s alcohol on the dining table. “I’m just gonna make eggs and toast, though.”

As if on cue, Yuta’s stomach rumbled.

Hide raised his eyebrows and gave Yuta’s stomach a pointed look. “I guess that’s a yes, then.”

“Hm.” Yuta pressed his lips thin, feeling slightly annoyed with his stomach. That was uncalled for.

Yuta thought that Hide would start asking him about their encounter with Goto as soon as they arrived home, but instead, Hide was completely focused on putting their purchases away and preparing the kitchen. He was acting as if nothing happened and that made Yuta uncomfortable. Surely he had questions?

Unsure of what to make of Hide’s nonchalance, Yuta put the tray of eggs on the table and pretended to stifle a yawn as he walked past Hide and went into the bathroom. “I need a shower first,” he mumbled.

Yuta heard Hide saying something about leaving the food outside. He wasn’t too sure exactly what it was about, but he responded with a noncommittal grunt before shutting the door behind him.

Once he was alone, Yuta let out a heavy sigh and started pulling his clothes off. Hide wasn’t asking the questions now, but maybe he would later on. The only problem is, Yuta wouldn’t be able to guess when it would happen. Which meant that he would have to hold on to this apprehension until Hide finally asks. But what if he doesn’t?

“Damn it…” Yuta sighed and sat himself down on the bathroom stool. Leaning forward, he reached for the showerhead, turned the tap on and put it against his forehead, letting the water flow as he let a groan rumble in his chest. Who could’ve thought that things would take such a turn?

All that time Yuta spent living and working here before Hide showed up felt like a nice little honeymoon phase when everything was pleasant and it all went smoothly, with the exception of falling out with his older brother and his eventual moving out. But ever since Hide opened his stall, things just… happened all at once; money grew tight, a new housemate in a house which Yuta thought would be all his to enjoy, gossip about the two of them, and now Goto showing up? The gossip hasn't even run its course yet.

Although, Yuta was honestly surprised that it took Goto or any of the other guys to find him in a city as small and as densely populated as Tokyo. He knew that this particular district was out of the area that they usually ran in, but he thought someone would venture there sooner or later. Especially since they were talking about expanding their territory just before he left. Maybe they started moving again. Or maybe whatever luck he had on his side was starting to run out. 

Yuta exhaled a heavy sigh and lowered the showerhead to run a hand through his wet hair- … Wet hair? He wet his hair? Yuta groaned and cursed violently. He didn’t want to wash his hair at five in the morning when all he wanted was to toss himself into bed when he was done! How was he supposed to sleep with a head of wet hair!? Fuck it. Since it was already drenched, he might as well wash his hair.

But that doesn’t mean Yuta wasn’t going to vent his frustration with heavy scrubbing against his skin and scalp and noisy clattering with the soap bottles. He eventually calmed down, though, when he started rinsing himself off with the showerhead again. As Yuta sat motionless on the stool, he wondered whether he might feel better if he soaked himself for a bit. He glanced at the empty bathtub next to him. To run the bath now… it was going to take a while to fill, wasn’t it?

Yuta shut his eyes and sighed once more. Maybe later tonight. Assuming nothing unexpected happened, of course. He could  _ really _ do with an uneventful day after all of this.

When Yuta finally dried himself off and stepped out of the bathroom, the kitchen was already silent. He could smell the fresh toast sitting on the dining table with a couple of sunny-side-up eggs next to it. His stomach rumbled again. Was that for him? Yuta hoped that was for him.

With a towel wrapped around his waist, Yuta went closer to the dining table and found a handwritten note on it. All it said was, ‘ _ Coffee downstairs _ ’. Yuta let out a soft huff. So Hide had already left for work. That explained why the house felt so silent. 

Just to be sure, Yuta took a quick look in his brother’s, or rather, Hide’s room. Sure enough, it was empty, but Yuta continued in. The door was wide open anyway, so he wasn’t exactly invading Hide’s privacy, right?

Although, there wasn’t really much to see inside except for a slightly-used bed and a half-unpacked canvas duffle bag of clothes. It looked like Hide only brought some essentials over. Yuta shrugged to himself and walked out. Maybe Hide would bring more things as the days go on. This was a rather impromptu decision after all.

Sitting himself down at the dining table, Yuta planted his elbow on the table and pressed his cheek against his palm as he started taking his time with the toast and eggs. Since Hide had already started work, he probably won’t have to worry about getting interrogated until tonight, earliest. At least he could rest easy. For now.


	16. 16

Yuta stepped out of the backdoor of his stall and squatted down against the wall. Sticking his hand into the pocket of his apron, he fished out his slightly crushed pack of cigarettes along with his lighter. He then went through the motions, taking out a stick and biting it between his teeth before he flicked his lighter open and-

“There you are.”

Yuta looked up at the approaching voice. It was Imai. He let out a grunt and proceeded to light his cigarette, muttering, “I’m not free.”

“Says the guy who just snuck out of his stall for a smoke,” Imai retorted with a grin.

“I needed a break,” Yuta replied, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

“Lend me your lighter,” Imai stretched out his hand to Yuta who handed him his lighter without missing a beat. Imai retrieved a cigarette from his own pack, flicked the lighter twice, and lit it. Handing the lighter back to Yuta, he asked, “What do you need a break from anyway? Aren’t things still pretty quiet?”

“Oddly enough,” Yuta began, “there were quite a few groups of kids coming in today since lunch.”

“I guess that means giving out the samples to Hide’s customers worked,” Imai chuckled as he squatted down next to Yuta. “Congrats on getting some business back,” he said, slapping Yuta lightly on his shoulder.

“Thanks. I hope it lasts,” Yuta added grimly. “What are you doing on this side of the street anyway? Don’t you have a restaurant to run?”

“Lunch hour’s passed,” Imai said as he tapped his non-existent wristwatch. “But I’m supposed to be looking for some cat. Acchan said he saw a pretty skinny one recently. He wanted to feed it,” he continued, taking out a couple of cat treats from his pocket to show Yuta.

“I haven’t seen any in this area,” Yuta shrugged.

“Acchan will probably find it before I do anyway,” Imai shrugged as well, already giving up on the search. “So? How’s your new tenant?” he asked before taking a long drag.

Yuta huffed and shook his head. “He’s only been here one night. And I was barely home. Not much to base an impression on like this, you know?” he said.

“Really?” Imai raised a somewhat sceptical eyebrow. “I heard he walked you home.”

“What the hell?” Yuta exclaimed. “Is everyone spying on me?!”

“Nah, I’m kidding,” Imai chuckled. “I happened to see you two outside my window this morning.”

“Tsk,” Yuta bumped his shoulder into Imai’s, almost knocking him to the side. “You got me worried about how much I’m being watched considering Kanemitsu has his own mole too,” he muttered in annoyance. 

“Ahha, well, I can’t help you there. No idea who he’s got here,” Imai shifted and steadied himself again. “So, what’s up with this morning?”

Yuta was about to start when he paused and asked, “Wait a minute, weren’t you still at the izakaya when I left?”

“Yeah, but since Acchan was occupied, I left soon after,” Imai shrugged. “I just didn’t expect to get home before you did, which is why I’m asking.”

“Occupied, huh.”

“You know.”

“Right…” Yuta nodded. He could never quite wrap his head around that business. “So, anyway,” Yuta let out a dramatic sigh. “You know what I used to do before this stall, right?”

“Mess around with that nonsense excuse of a gang?” Imai chuckled with the cigarette between his lips.

“Huh… yeah, that,” Yuta nodded, feeling slightly miffed despite the accurate description. “I mean, it was more like a-”

“Nuisance-making covey?”

“Hey!” Yuta snapped. “We did more than just-”

“Extortionists?” Imai smirked.

“Shall I extort the cash off of you?” Yuta huffed.

“I’m cashless,” Imai shrugged.

“I’ll extort your cigarettes from you.”

“You’ll make Acchan sad,” Imai returned with a smug smile.

Yuta scowled at Imai. “You just be glad you got a thing going on with Acchan.”

“And what’s your thing with Coffee Boy?”

“ _ Nothing _ ,” Yuta hissed.

Imai laughed, “No, no, I don’t mean it  _ that _ way. I meant, how’d you end up walking home with him.”

“As I was trying to say before I got  _ interrupted _ ,” Yuta gave Imai a pointed glare. “One of those kids who followed me around from back then? He found me walking home last night.”

“Ah, no wonder, you were walking home the whole way,” Imai nodded in understanding. “I took a taxi home so I guess that’s how I made it back earlier.”

"Rich man," Yuta pointed at Imai, and then pointed at himself and said, "Poor man."

"Rents an apartment," Imai pointed at himself, and pointed back at Yuta, "owns an apartment."

"I've got a loan to pay, y'know."

"And I've got rent to pay."

“Yeah, yeah,” Yuta responded vaguely, half-listening. “Anyway, the kid, he followed me, and you know I don’t want any of them coming around to rile things up again, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, I told him to leave but he kept sticking to me until I had to hop into one of the nearby convenience stores to waste a bit of time or something.”

“Can’t you just knock him out?” Imai asked nonchalantly. "Like you used to?"

“Would love to, but I’m not supposed to do that anymore, am I?” Yuta pointed out.

“I mean…” Imai made a face and shrugged. “If you have to… I guess?”

“Nice of you to encourage violence,” Yuta remarked flatly. “But I didn’t do that.”

“So proud of you,” Imai smirked. “And where does Hide come in all of this?”

“I was just getting there,” Yuta sighed. “He came into the convenience store shortly after me. And he noticed what was going on. More or less.”

“And he beat the kid up?” 

“ _ No _ ,” Yuta grumbled, rolling his eyes. “I don’t think he's the sort to do that anyway.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yeah,” Yuta nodded. “He wanted to tell the kid to leave me alone, but I told him it wouldn’t work and we should just try and lose him on the way home.”

“And did you?” Imai asked. “I mean, I didn’t spot him this morning but…”

“Well… we actually managed to get him to quit following us.”

“Oh? How?” 

“So,” Yuta started, “the kid kept trying to guess what Hide’s relation to me was, like, was he a new lackey, or something.”

Imai snorted.

“And eventually, I said that Hide’s living with me,” Yuta went on, waving his hand around as he gestured. “And somehow, that led him to think that I left to develop some sort of relationship with Hide.”

“And what did Hide say to that?”

“Hide agreed.”

Imai let out a long loud laugh as he slapped his knee.

Yuta ignored him and hurried to finish the recount, “I guess I had no choice but to play along and that was enough to get the kid to leave and let us go home.”

“Congratulations on your new relationship status,” Imai smacked Yuta’s shoulder with a wide grin on his face.

“Oh, come on,” Yuta shrugged Imai away. “It was just an excuse!”

“The kid didn’t know that,” Imai pointed out.

“And no one else knows about that exchange except for you, me, Hide and him.”

“Okay, but what makes you think the kid wouldn’t go telling the others about this?”

Yuta clenched his jaw and resisted the urge to bite through his cigarette. He did think about that and he was worried about that too, but… was there anything he could do about it? Running his hand through his hair multiple times, Yuta let out a frustrated sigh and muttered, “I can only hope that they choose to stay away rather than come looking for me because of that.”


	17. 17

A couple of weeks have passed since Yuta and Hide had their run-in with Goto and things were… oddly smooth-sailing.

Business picked up; the samples Yuta had been giving out during his sales drought have worked their magic and customers are coming back in. Hide’s business had started to slow, though. But it felt more like things had started to calm down. It gave Hide more time to play around with his baking which meant that Yuta was getting fed more pastries, but he wasn’t about to complain about that. Free food is good food.

With less crowd, though, Hide started to pop into Yuta’s stall more. He seemed to have a sweet tooth or something. All he ever asked for was peach-flavoured drinks with all that fruity syrup.

But despite the freed up time, Hide was still quite busy after operating hours. He had been going back and forth between the apartment and his parents’ home, which Yuta eventually found out. Hide gradually brought more and more things into Yuta’s apartment and over the course of two weeks, Yuta barely recognised his older brother’s room whenever he sneaked a peek in.

Yuta noticed sports paraphernalia among Hide’s possessions, though. Perhaps he was right to assume that Hide had some sort of sporting background which was attributed to his build. Yuta wanted to ask Hide about it but, well, Hide was too busy and exhausted by the end of the day. Which also meant that Hide had yet to raise any questions about Goto and their exchange. 

This wait for some sort of conclusion was far longer than Yuta expected. To the point where he has even started wondering whether Hide even remembered what happened. Although, it was just a couple of weeks ago. His memory can’t be that bad, right? Whatever it was, Yuta decided that he would confront Hide about it and get that out of the way once and for all. After all, he can’t live in apprehension forever.

With that in mind, Yuta sat on the high stool behind his counter and waited. They were entering the usual daily lull in the early evening. If things went as they usually did, Hide would be coming in through the backdoor anytime now.

As if on cue, Yuta heard the distant sound of the back door clicking open followed by the now-familiar waft of freshly ground coffee. Looking over his shoulder, he made eye contact with the bright-eyed Hide and raised a hand in greeting. Hide gave him a quick smile in return, pushing aside the loose strands of hair that fell out of his rubber band as he came towards the counter.

Yuta noticed a brown paper bag in Hide’s hand. “What you got there?” he asked, jerking his head.

“Cookies,” Hide replied as he placed it in front of Yuta. “The big sort,” he added, putting thumbs and index fingers of both his hands together to illustrate the size.

Yuta hummed and peeked into the bag. There were two inside, like discs of slightly smaller diameters than a doughnut’s. As usual, they smelt good. Folding it close, Yuta said, “Thanks. But you know you don’t have to keep giving me food, right? I don’t even have a sweet tooth.”

“Ah, yes, I heard,” Hide replied with a smile. “Which is why I wanted you to try out the low-sugar recipe I found recently.”

Yuta froze, surprised by the rebuttal. “You heard?” he echoed. Not many people knew about this, so, how did Hide find out? 

“Yeah,” Hide nodded.

“From who?”

“Acchan,” Hide jabbed a thumb towards the sushi restaurant across the street. 

“Huh.” Yuta huffed. Since when were they chatty with each other? And, furthermore, talking about him? Oh, well. He wrinkled his nose and muttered, “Well, thanks anyway.”

“You’re welcome. Let me know what you think,” Hide nodded.

“By the way,” Yuta began, “don’t you have anything to ask about Goto?”

“Huh?” Hide looked confused. “Who?”

Yuta froze again. Wait, did Hide know Goto’s name? Or had he already forgotten about the incident?

“Oh!” Hide snapped his fingers suddenly. “You mean, that kid we met at the convenience store?”

Ah, so he didn’t forget. “Uh, yeah,” Yuta responded cautiously.

“So, the kid’s name is Goto,” Hide nodded to himself.

“Yeah,” Yuta affirmed. “Didn’t he tell you his name?”

“Ah, uh…” Hide scratched his head as he cast his eyes to the ceiling. “I don’t quite remember,” he confessed sheepishly. “I’m not even sure if it ever came up during our exchange?”

Yuta wrinkled his nose and hummed again. Truth be told, he couldn’t quite remember either. After all, two weeks had already passed. “Huh… Oh, well.”

“What about it?” Hide asked.

“Hn?”

“You asked if I had anything to ask about Goto,” Hide reminded.

“Nah, I just found it odd that you never said anything about it,” Yuta muttered, acting nonchalant in an attempt to dismiss the topic.

“You didn’t look very keen about sharing when Goto was in front of us, so… I guessed you’re not particularly inclined to talk about it,” Hide explained, eyes downcast as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

“Hm, you’d be right about that,” Yuta acknowledged.

“So, I don’t ask,” Hide emphasised. “Unless…” He looked at Yuta.

“Nope.”

“Yeah, didn’t think so,” Hide shrugged.

Yuta wasn’t sure if he spotted disappointment in Hide’s demeanour but he decided to shove that little inkling aside and ask, “I suppose you’re here for your usual, then?”

At this, Hide beamed and nodded, “Yes. Peach tea with those little chewy ball-things you have.”

“They’re tapioca  _ pearls _ ,” Yuta stressed. Why was it so hard to get Hide to learn their proper names?

“Yeah, yeah, the balls,” Hide repeated, earning himself a look from Yuta… which he didn’t seem to understand. “Will you ever make peach flavoured balls?”

Yuta decided to bite his tongue on this but he just had to comment, “You really like peach flavoured things, don’t you?”

“Banana, actually.”

“What?”

“I like banana flavours more.”

“That’s a… That sounds…”

“Like banana juice?”

Shaking the cocktail shaker by his head, Yuta gave Hide a weird look. Do bananas even have juice? Or did he mean mashed banana?

Hide caught the expression on Yuta’s face and realised he didn’t understand. “I’ll try and find a stall which sells it and let you try it someday,” he concluded.

“Yeah, sure,” Yuta nodded as he turned away to pour the drink out of the shaker and into the cup while still feeling sceptical about Hide’s ‘banana juice’. Was it actually a banana milkshake but… melted?

“But, yeah, I do prefer your peach varieties over the mango or melon.”

Yuta frowned, “But you’ve never ordered mango or melon anything.”

“Oh, some of my customers actually took your samples and gave them to me.”

“ … Why?”

“I dunno,” Hide shrugged.

“Huh, weird,” Yuta muttered as he handed the drink to Hide. He would have guessed that they were trying to curry some sort of favour with the man, though.

“Well, I don’t think I ever saw them again, so what does it matter,” Hide shrugged again. “How much?”

“Two cookies,” Yuta pointed to the paper bag. He couldn’t keep taking free food from his tenant  _ and _ still make the man pay him for bubble tea.

“Ah, I guess I set myself up for that,” Hide chuckled.

“You sure did,” Yuta nodded. “By the way, do you… have dinner plans?” 

“Me?” Hide looked surprised. “I… guess not…”

“I’m gonna head over to Imai’s later,” Yuta pointed in the sushi restaurant’s general direction. “You wanna come along?”

“Uh…”

“You’re done with moving your stuff over, aren’t you?” Yuta pointed out. It was really just a random guess since Hide started to bring fewer and fewer things back in recent days. “We could call it your official welcome party.”

“Ah… I can’t really say no if you put it like this,” Hide mumbled awkwardly.

“We’ll go over together, anyway, if you want,” Yuta offered.

“I’ll just follow you, then,” Hide decided.

“Good, I’ll let Imai know," Yuta nodded as he pulled out his phone. Maybe this will give him a chance to find out how often Acchan and Hide had been talking to each other.


	18. 18

“You’re sure it’s fine?”

“Yeah.”

“We can really drop in empty-handed?”

“Yeah,” Yuta waved his hand dismissively and stuck it back into the pocket of his usual denim jacket. “I do this all the time,” he added. “Besides, we’re just helping them finish their leftovers.”

“Oh,” Hide said quietly before falling silent. 

Yuta glanced over at Hide. His face was expressionless but he looked tense. Nervous maybe. It was obvious when Yuta noticed Hide didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. He couldn’t help but wonder why, though. It’s not as if he had never met Imai or Atsushi before. Oh, well. Whatever. Mentally shrugging to himself, Yuta tossed his curiosity aside and slid the restaurant’s wooden door open. It was time for dinner.

Inside the narrow restaurant, Atsushi had already changed out of his work clothes and was sitting at the bar counter watching Imai prepare their food. When they walked in, he turned and said with a smile, “Hello.”

“Hey, Yuta, we accidentally made an extra chicken Katsu just now so that’ll be yours,” Imai said without looking up from his chopping board.

“No kappa maki?” Yuta asked.

“Nope,” Imai replied.

Atsushi gave him an appalled look.

Noticing it, Imai clicked his tongue and said, “Oh, come on, you  _ know _ that’s a joke. You saw how many cucumbers there are in the fridge.”

“I wouldn’t know if you were saving all of that up for some cucumber special or something, right?” Atsushi shrugged.

“Do  _ you _ want a cucumber special?” Imai retorted, eyes still focused on whatever he was chopping up.

Atsushi was quiet for a while as Yuta led Hide inside to sit down next to him. It seemed as if he was thinking before he asked, “Like, now?”

Imai shrugged. “Doubt it’d be too difficult to shove-”

“PLEASE do not ruin the only sushi I eat,” Yuta interrupted, raising his voice before Imai could finish his sentence.

“Ookay,” Imai intoned, stifling a laugh as he started tossing an assortment of diced fresh fish in sauce again. “You eat chirashi, right, Hide?”

“Yeah, but… I thought Yuta said we’re having leftovers,” Hide muttered, confused.

“Yeah, and you’re in a sushi restaurant,” Imai reminded. “What leftovers do sushi restaurants have?”

“Fish,” Atsushi beamed. “And rice.”

“Then, what’s with the chicken katsu and kappa maki?” Hide asked.

“Chicken is available as a dish, but since we mostly sell sushi, it’s not often ordered, and so we usually leave most of it frozen,” Imai explained. “But today, this guy,” he gestured at Atsushi, “wrote 3 instead of 2-”   


“I already said I’m sorry,” Atsushi whined, bending lower to lay his head in his arms.

“-which is how we ended up with one extra, and why I asked Yuta if he wanted to join us for dinner,” Imai concluded. “But the cucumber… we only use it as a garnish most times…”

“Maybe we should cut back on orders,” Atsushi suggested.

“It’s starting to feel like we’re giving all of it to Yuta, right?” Imai mused as he started arranging the food in their bowls. “We only use a slice or two to garnish the occasional rice bowl, after all.”

“What am I gonna eat if you don’t have cucumbers?” Yuta groaned. 

“You don’t eat fish?” Hide asked, surprised.

“Yeah, weird, isn’t he?” Atsushi grinned. “You’d still have rice, anyway, “ he said to Yuta.

“Maybe instead of ikura, you can garnish it with those balls of yours,” Imai chuckled to himself.

Yuta’s face froze mid-grimace. “I’m not sure if you mean tapioca or…”

“What do you prefer?” Atsushi smirked.

“I thought you said he doesn’t have a sweet tooth?” Hide piped up.

“Indeed he doesn’t,” Imai agreed as he leaned over the counter to place the bowls of rice and fish where he would sit and where Atsushi and Hide sat.

“Oh, right, Acchan, I wanted to ask you,” Yuta shifted the topic away from the… balls, “when did you and Hide get close enough for you to tell him that I don’t like sweet foods?”

“Huh?” Atsushi lifted his head nonchalantly. “We’re not… close? Though?” he added, genuinely perplexed. “I just go over for coffee once in a while.”

“Then, how’d the topic come up?” Yuta questioned.

“I told him the muffins you shared with me were good,” Atsushi replied. “Then, he told me they weren’t actually for sale and asked how I got them, and I said, you,” he went on and gestured at Yuta. “And then I told him you gave some to me because it gets too sweet sometimes so… that’s how it went.” 

“Did something come up?" Imai asked as he washed his hands.

"Nah, I was just wondering how this guy found out about it," Yuta said, waving his hand as if dismissing the question. "Since, you know, I don't actually tell people about it."

"I didn't know it's that much of a secret," Hide commented.

"I just don't think it's necessary information to share," Yuta explained, thanking Imai as he took a plate full of kappa maki from him along with a side plate of fried chicken. "I honestly didn't expect you to tweak your recipes just because of me either," he added with a laugh.

Atsushi and Imai exchanged a glance. Yuta noticed it. But he couldn’t tell if Hide did as well.

Imai looked at Yuta. “Come to the back with me. I need your help with something,” he said.

“Me?” Yuta questioned, suspicious. “Why not Acchan?”

“It’s a matter of alcohol preference and that guy doesn’t have one,” Imai answered flatly, earning himself an offended ‘Oy!’ from Atsushi.

“Eh, fine,” Yuta grumbled, reluctantly getting up from his seat.

Imai’s request was simple enough, but it was odd. Odd enough that Yuta couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling in his gut that something was up. Well, at least he was going to find out right away.


	19. 19

“It’s not about the alcohol, is it?” Yuta asked, folding his arms as he stood in the chilly alcohol storage room with Imai.

“Of course not,” Imai huffed. Even so, his eyes were scanning the shelves. 

“Then, what is it?”

“How has living with Hide been?”

“Uneventful,” Yuta shrugged. “He’s barely around anyway. Why?”

“He’s barely around?” Imai echoed. “And he finds the time to bake?”

“Somehow,” Yuta nodded and scratched his chin. “I think he’s got an oven in his stall or something.”

“And he still cleans?” Imai asked.

“Eh… I guess?” Yuta muttered, squinting his eyes as he looked up. “ _ I’m _ mopping and vacuuming, though,” he added quickly. “Otherwise I’d feel like the freeloader even though it’s  _ my _ apartment.”

“What do you mean?” Imai looked over his shoulder at Yuta.

“He even makes me breakfast so it really feels like I’m a guest or something,” Yuta revealed.

Imai scrunched up his face as he gave it a thought. Frowning, he turned to face Yuta and asked, “It was Hide who decided to play the ‘relationship’ card when you met Goto, right?”

“Yeah…,” Yuta nodded slowly, now frowning too with Imai. A thought suddenly came to him. “You don’t think…?”

“Maybe,” Imai nodded in affirmation. 

"No waay," Yutaa dismissed, wrinkling his nose as he cast his glance to the side. "You're reading too much into this," he added.

"No, no, no," Imai insisted.

"Wha'd'you mean 'no'?"

"The guy definitely likes you, Yuta."

"Don't be ridiculous-"

"Or, at the very least, he's got a soft spot for you."

"He- …" Yuta paused. This was a tad harder to deny. No doubt, Hide was nice to him but that was it, wasn't it? "That's just how he is," Yuta said eventually.

"You don't believe that yourself, do you?" Imai challenged.

"It could be that he's being nice because he wants something from me," Yuta pointed out. "Like, maybe he wants to stay in my good books and secure a longer tenancy."

“Going through all this trouble for  _ that _ ? I don’t buy it,” Imai shook his head.

“Why not?” Yuta asked with a shrug. “You didn’t see how badly Hide wanted to live here,” he added. “He was so persistent-”

“You really think it’s just the tenancy he’s after?” Imai asked, sounding a little less sure of himself now.

“Yeah, it’s got to be the tenancy,” Yuta affirmed. “Because, you see, we didn’t sign any contract so there’s no legal agreement of any sort that would prevent me from ending the arrangement one day and making him leave by the next.”

“You wouldn’t do that, though, would you?” Imai muttered sceptically.

“Nah. But he doesn’t know that, does he?” Yuta snickered. “Besides, why would he like  _ me _ ?”

“Why not?” Imai returned. “Acchan liked you.”

“Acchan is… Acchan.”

“Hm, you got a point there.”

“See? You’re overthinking this, Imai.”

“No, no, I’m not, and you know it,” Imai insisted. “I’m telling you I’m getting this strong sense that there’s something  _ else _ .” 

“Noo, there isn’t.”

“There is!”

“Okay, fine. If you’re so sure about it, make a bet with me,” Yuta challenged.

“What are we betting for?” Imai readily asked back.

“Uh…” Yuta didn’t expect Imai to be so sure that he’d agree to this. 

“How about a year’s worth of cigarettes?” Imai suggested. “If it really does turn out that Hide likes you, you’ll supply me with cigarettes for a year.”

“And if he doesn’t, you’ll supply  _ me _ with a year of cigarettes,” Yuta returned. He could afford this on the off chance that Imai was right.

Imai stuck his hand out, “Deal.”

And Yuta shook it, “Deal.” He really hoped Imai was wrong, though. He wouldn't know what to do otherwise.


	20. 20

After a hearty dinner and three bottles of shochu shared, it was close to two in the morning by the time Yuta and Hide took their leave. They had intended to leave earlier but they got carried away. At least all they needed to do was cross the road to get home. 

While Yuta had been able to keep his new bet with Imai out of his mind throughout dinner and drinks, it had invited itself back into his thoughts now that he was alone with Hide again. He couldn’t stop looking at Hide while thinking about it, but despite that, the man looked perfectly unbothered and properly buzzed with that calm smile on his face as he shuffled along with Yuta. 

On impulse, Yuta started, “Hey, Hide.”

“Hmm?”

“D’you like me?”

“Yeah.”

Yuta stopped in his tracks. “What?” 

Hide, too, stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?” 

“You like me?” Yuta asked again. Had he already lost the bet so quickly?

“Why wouldn’t I?” Hide shrugged. “You’re nice to me.”

“I’m… nice?”

“Yeah,” Hide nodded, still smiling.

“That’s it?” Yuta muttered.

“You let me stay with you even though you didn’t want to at first,” Hide went on as if he didn’t hear Yuta’s utterance, “you introduced me to nice people in the neighbourhood, arranged a welcome party-”

“That was impromptu, though,” Yuta pointed out. 

“So, yes, you’re nice,” Hide nodded again.

“And that’s the reason why you’ve been making me food?” Yuta asked.

“You don’t like that?” Hide asked, suddenly concerned. “I’ll stop if it makes you unhappy-”

“No!” Yuta denied hastily. “I mean, I appreciate it but-”

“It makes you uncomfortable?”

“No, no!” Yuta denied again. This didn’t look good. He really didn’t fancy the idea of potentially creating a scene in the middle of the street for anyone and everyone to see.

“You don’t like the sweet foods, do you?” Hide surmised, looking increasingly chagrined. He looked like he was going to start crying or something. Was he a drunk crier?

“No, that’s not-! Ugh, you know what?” Yuta hastily grabbed Hide by his hand and started pulling him along. “Hold your thoughts on that, and we’ll continue this conversation at home,” he said, hoping that Hide would at least hold it together until they were indoors.

Thankfully, Hide followed quietly without a fuss, making it easy for Yuta to take the bigger man home and before long, Yuta was locking the main door behind him. He pushed Hide up the stairs and quickly closed the windows and drew the curtains. Just as a precaution to block the noise from getting out in case things got out of hand.

“Am I a bother to you?” Hide asked dejectedly.

“Noo, no,” Yuta shook his head and led Hide to the couch. “You… sit down first,” he said before stifling a sigh. In all honesty, Yuta had no idea how he should deal with this. He probably shouldn’t have given in to his impulse to ask Hide that question.

“Are you kicking me out?”

“No!” Yuta wanted to groan. How on earth did Hide jump to that conclusion?!

“But this was never a formal arrangement-”

“I’m not kicking you out,” Yuta interrupted, covering his face with a hand to hide his grimace as he stood in front of Hide. “I  _ won’t  _ kick you out. And in fact, you’re not going anywhere,” he added. “I said you could stay here so you’re staying here. Or at least… until you no longer want to.”

“Really?”

“Besides, you’ve already moved in,” Yuta gestured in the direction of Hide’s room.

“I have?” Hide looked up at him blankly.

Yuta stared at him with an equally blank expression of surprise. How drunk was this man? Yuta put his hands on Hide’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes as he licked his lips, swallowed and asked, “Do you want some water?”

Hide, too, swallowed and suddenly, as if realising he felt parched, he muttered, “That would be nice, yes.”

“I’m going to get you a glass of water, and right after that, you go to sleep. Alright?” Yuta said. “You’ve gotta open the stall tomorrow and it’s getting late.”

“I get to sleep here?” Hide asked. Once again, he looked genuinely surprised.

“ …  _ Yes _ ,” Yuta hissed through gritted teeth. “You know what, why don’t you go to bed first? I’ll bring you your glass of water.”

Hide started nodding absentmindedly and Yuta seized his chance. Helping the man to his feet, Yuta led the compliant Hide to the bed and once he was settled in, he quickly darted to the kitchen to grab that promised glass of water. He thought he’d be quick and get this all over and done with as soon as possible, but perhaps he was a little  _ too _ quick.

When Yuta stepped back into the room, he was greeted by the sight of Hide’s muscled back and bare ass facing him while Hide stripped off his underwear, seemingly oblivious to Yuta’s presence. Yuta wasn't aware that Hide slept in the buff but that was something he did _ not _ have to know. And now he was going to be stuck with that mental image of Hide's firm ass burned into his mind's eye.

This evening had been completely unpredictable so far and Yuta could never guess what was going to come next, but luckily, Hide simply slipped under the covers and laid down  _ without _ making Yuta see anything else. Thank the stars for that.

With Hide now drowsy and zoning out, Yuta approached the bed and put the glass of water down on the side table. "Here's your water," he announced. "Now, if there's nothing else-"

"Keep me company for a while?" Hide asked softly.

Unpredictable indeed. Yuta wanted to say no, but he decided that it was probably a better idea to appease Hide than do anything that upsets him. Holding back a sigh, Yuta nodded and sat down on the side of the bed, slouching in resignation. 

“Am I supposed to stay here until you fall asleep?” Yuta asked.

… No reply.

“Hide?” Yuta frowned and looked over his shoulder. The man was already asleep. Yuta pressed his lips thin and huffed. So quickly? Oh, well. All the better for him anyway. He thought he was going to have to spend some time sitting here and twiddling his thumbs but it looked like he was free to go.

Despite his eagerness, Yuta moved as slowly and as quietly as he could to stealthily sneak his way out of the room. He was worried that Hide might suddenly wake up again but thankfully, he didn’t and as Yuta shut Hide’s door behind him, he finally let his shoulders slump and let out a huge sigh of relief.

In normal circumstances, Yuta would continue drinking at home after dinner but tonight… Tonight, he felt exhausted. All that effort he had to put into placating Hide and making sure that he didn’t lose it took a surprisingly large amount of energy out of Yuta. So much so that he didn’t even feel like drinking anymore. Maybe he should take a shower and go straight to bed too.

Yes, that sounded like a good idea. Yuta nodded to himself as he shuffled into his room to grab a change of clothes. He knew he would be more than fine tomorrow but he wasn’t too sure about Hide. In fact, would Hide even remember anything?


	21. 21

Yuta ran his fingers through his hair, combing it all back before bunching it up in a low ponytail again. Loose locks had slipped out and they were getting on his nerves. He glanced up at the wall clock in his stall. Almost ten in the morning. Well, he was done with his preparation and there was still a bit of time left. Plus, Hide’s morning peak period should be waning now. He could probably hop over and grab some coffee first.

Yuta rinsed his hands in the sink and stepped out from the counter while wiping his hands on his apron. Before he went out through the back door, he paused. Maybe Hide might appreciate a cup of peach tea in exchange. With that in mind, Yuta hurried back in, sped through the motions of mixing the syrup with the tea, shaking the mixture with ice, and finally dispensing it all into a plastic cup with tapioca pearls already sitting at the bottom. He took a moment to wait for the machine to seal the cover over the top of the cup, feeling impatient with the mandatory pause as he watched it do its work. Once that was done, he grabbed the full, sealed cup and a straw, and ran out the back door.

Like Yuta, Hide didn’t lock the back door to his stall so Yuta could simply waltz right in and… walk right into Hide coming out from the storeroom. Yuta found his face in Hide’s back, but at least he didn’t drop the cup and spill the chilled tea.

Despite his surprise, Hide didn’t drop the carton he had in his hands. Rather, he merely jolted and let out a grunt. Carefully putting his load down, Hide tossed a concerned glance over his shoulder but when he saw Yuta. All of a sudden, he looked alarmed.

“Hey, I brought you your peach tea,” Yuta greeted. What was Hide so afraid of?

“… Oh,” Hide muttered as he accepted the drink. He didn’t seem to have expected this. “Um, thanks.”

“What’s wrong?” Yuta asked bluntly.

“Hm? Oh, I just… feel bad about last night,” Hide said with a grimace.

Yuta blinked. “You… remember what happened?” 

“No, actually,” Hide confessed with a sigh. “And that’s part of the problem, I guess. I feel bad even though I don’t remember how or when we got home. Oh, but I do remember seeing you sit on… my bed?”

“Yeah, I did that but it’s only because you asked me to sit awhile,” Yuta said. “And that only lasted for less than a couple of minutes because you fell asleep right after that.”

“Ah…” Hide nodded, seemingly relieved but at the same time, his mind was clearly still somewhere else. His blank stare at the wall gave it away. After a pause, Hide asked, “I didn’t do anything stupid, did I?”

“No, no,” Yuta shook his head. Hide did act weirdly but it wasn’t exactly  _ stupid _ by his own definition. He had seen, or even done worse after all.

“Ah, thank goodness,” Hide sighed, closing his eyes as he let his shoulders slump. “I used to get teased for it…”

“You don’t hold your alcohol very well, do you?” Yuta pointed out. “Or do you not drink often?”

“I… actually don’t drink,” Hide muttered as he suddenly turned tense again and had his eyes to the floor. “Because I used to… uh, play… competitive soccer…” he added, his voice growing softer with each word.

“Huh. So that’s where all the sporting apparel in your room came from?” Yuta asked. It didn’t seem like a big deal. Yet, why was Hide reacting like this?

“Yeah. Look, uh, thanks for the tea but I, uh, need to get back to work…” Hide said abruptly, eyes darting around as he spoke.

Yuta furrowed his brow. Was Hide chasing him away? Something felt off. But with the way Hide was behaving, perhaps probing now wouldn’t be a good idea. “ … Right. I should… open the stall too,” he agreed, nodding as he hesitantly turned to leave. “Later then, I guess.”

“Yeah, I’ll… see you later,” Hide said quietly, averting his eyes as he placed the peach tea on the carton and picked it up with a grunt. Muttering an almost inaudible, “Thanks again for this,” Hide hurried off and disappeared to the front of the shop.

Left alone, Yuta couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of uneasiness from the way Hide was acting. He felt like he was getting whiplash from the big difference between Hide’s drunk self and… whatever that was. Standing in the back alley, Yuta clicked his tongue and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He just hoped that his curiosity didn’t leave any lasting impact on the way Hide acted around him.

Out of nowhere, another realisation came to Yuta and he slapped his forehead with a groan. He didn’t get the coffee he originally came for. Letting out a noisy sigh, Yuta shuffled back into his stall dejectedly. Oh, well. No coffee for today, then. It would be too awkward to go back and ask for it anyway.


	22. 23

“He likes you doesn’t he?” Imai said as he sauntered into Yuta’s stall.

Wiping the troubled expression off his face, Yuta shook his head and rolled his eyes, “No, not  _ that _ way.”

“Hah, so we’re gonna be specific, are we?” Imai asked, leaning forward to plant his elbow on the counter and hold his chin in his hand. “Just so that you won’t lose our bet so quickly?”

“It’s not particularly significant if he simply likes me, is it?” Yuta countered. “Like,  _ you _ like me.”

“Who on earth said that?” Imai sneered.

“Sachi and Yuka like me,” Yuta pointed out. “So does Acchan. And Kanemitsu. And Issay.”

“Fine, fine, fine. I get your point,” Imai grumbled. “But is that why you were frowning away?”

“What?”

“The fact that he doesn’t  _ like _ like you?”

“No,” Yuta clicked his tongue. “And who said I was frowning?”

“You could practically glare holes into your wood-top counter,” Imai knocked it for emphasis. “Or maybe kill someone.”

“Nah, it’s not…” Yuta sighed. What’s the point of denying it? After all, it  _ was _ Imai. He might as well just tell him. “Okay, well, I don’t know if I pissed the guy off,” he confessed.

“Hah?” Imai raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Since when did you start caring about these things?”

“I  _ live _ with him, Imai,” Yuta reminded. “It’d be hell if I can’t even relax in my own home.”

“Huh, right,” Imai smirked. “Well, then, what did you do?”

“I gave him his usual peach tea, spoke a bit about last night, he said he actually doesn’t drink because he used to play… competitive soccer?” Yuta recounted.

“‘Competitive’ soccer? Isn’t that a weird way of saying he went pro?” Imai asked with a scoff.

“You think so?” Yuta returned. “Anyway, after that, I asked him about the sporting equipment and outfits he has, and he started getting all weird and didn’t want to talk anymore.”

“Huh. Sounds like you hit a sore spot there,” Imai pointed out.

“A sore spot?”

“Yeah,” Imai nodded. “See, he said he  _ used to _ play soccer, right? Which probably means that he doesn’t anymore.”

“Uh… huh,” Yuta nodded.

“And there’s got to be a reason why he stopped, right?” Imai raised.

“Right…”

“Hey, do you think we’ll find anything if we look his name up?” Imai asked as he whipped out his phone. “If he actually did go pro, or, at least, was about to, then it’d make sense that there would be some sort of news about him, right?”

“You think so?” Yuta asked skeptically. Imai’s deduction made sense, but… “That would only happen if he was popular or something, though.”

“D’you know how his name is written?” Imai asked, eyes on his phone as he typed. “The ‘Hidehiko’ part.”

“I’ve got no idea,” Yuta scratched his head with a finger. “Just search in Hiragana and see if anything-”

“Aha!” Imai exclaimed. “Here it says, ‘Rising Star Hoshino Falls’.”

“That sounds harsh,” Yuta remarked.

“Well, he apparently snapped his… an...terior… cruci...ate ligament. Or ‘ACL’ for short,” Imai read. “Huh, what a bummer.”

“What is?”

“It actually happened once before, during a training session, and he was supposed to have healed from it but the second time it happened in-game, they decided to… well, let him go,” Imai summarised. “I guess too many injuries would cost any club too much. Especially if it puts him out of commission between six months to a year each time.”

“Six months to a year?!” Yuta echoed. “That long?!"

“Yeah,” Imai nodded. “I’m reading about the injury now, and that’s the estimated timeframe for recovery if surgery was required.”

“Huh. But I don’t remember seeing any scars on his legs,” Yuta muttered as he tried to recall what Hide’s legs looked like. Unfortunately, all he could recall were his thigh and calf muscles.

“Maybe he was young enough when the surgery happened that there was no scarring,” Imai suggested. “It says here the first injury happened when he was sixteen. Must’ve been training too hard or something.”

“Yeah, probably,” Yuta agreed. He could still remember the ‘training’ he was subjected to back when he was in the baseball team in junior high. Thinking back, he wondered if it was just some sort of sadistic indulgence for the coaches.

“So, yeah,” Imai nodded as he locked his phone. “A sore spot.”

“Hm…” Yuta folded his arms and sighed. “You don’t think I really upset him, do you?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Imai shrugged. “I don’t know much about this guy aside from the fact that he sells coffee, once played soccer, had a torn ligament, and sleeps with you.”

“Huh, that’s tru- … He doesn’t sleep with me,” Yuta turned and glared at Imai who simply beamed at him. 

“Almost got you there,” he chuckled and waggled a finger.

“Annoying.”


	23. 23

Whatever strangeness got into Hide that day disappeared without any effort from Yuta’s end. By evening, Hide was back to normal, acting as if nothing happened earlier and by the next day, Yuta was receiving pastries from Hide again. Looking at the way things were, Yuta gathered that he didn’t need to worry about it but ever so often, he still found his mind wandering back to the odd behaviour. It felt as if it was unfinished business of some sort. After all, he didn’t really get a proper conclusion from Hide, did he?

All of this ran around Yuta’s head as he sat on one end of the couch, drinking beer and watching baseball on TV while Hide sat on the other end, cross-legged and engrossed in his notebook. This was how they spent their evenings when neither of them had any plans. They mostly kept to their own activities, but Yuta couldn’t help but notice that Hide truly did not have the common habit of drinking to wind down.

“You really don’t drink much, do you?” Yuta asked.

“Hm?” Hide looked up, startled at the sudden address.

“Beer,” Yuta raised his can for emphasis. “Or alcoholic drinks in general.”

“Oh. No,” Hide shook his head before looking down at his notebook again. “Since I used to play-”

“ _ Used _ to, right? So, it doesn’t matter when you don’t any more, right?” Yuta pointed out.

“Mmh… true but…” Hide furrowed his brow and sucked on the inside of his cheek. 

“You just don’t want to?”

“Not… exactly,” Hide muttered. “It’s just that, you know my tolerance isn’t all that great and I don’t want to cause problems because of that-”

“Honestly, despite what you think, you’re no problem. Drunk you is pretty easy to handle,” Yuta grinned and chuckled.

“Really?” Hide blurted, eyeing Yuta up and down. “I’m manageable for you?”

“I’ve dealt with worse,” Yuta said with a wave of his hand. After taking a sip from his can, he added, “You, at the very least, don’t try to punch my teeth out. Besides, how are you supposed to improve your tolerance if you don’t drink at all?”

Hide went quiet as he stared at Yuta’s can. “ … You really don’t mind?”

Yuta laughed and launched himself off the couch. As he ran to the fridge, he took a fresh can of beer out and said, “I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t mean it. It’s no fun drinking alone anyway.”

“Okay then…” Hide mumbled as he watched Yuta crack the can open and hand it to him. He still looked rather hesitant holding the beer.

Yuta knocked his own can against Hide’s. “Cheers,” he said, cheeks tensing in a smile as he met Hide’s eyes and drank up. Yuta couldn’t figure out what it was, but Hide continued to hold eye contact while copying Yuta and drinking as well. Well, at least Hide  _ was _ drinking. That should make him loosen up a bit.

Sitting back down on the couch with a thump, Yuta asked, “So? What you got there in your notebook? You’re always looking at it every evening looking all sullen.”

“This?” Hide raised the book and closed it. “It’s nothing really. Just the recipes,” he said, offering it to Yuta. “You can look if you want.”

Yuta put his beer down and dried his hands on his tee before taking the book. It wouldn’t be nice of him to get it wet after all. 

“Let me know if you see anything you want,” Hide said before hastily adding, “to be a guinea pig for.”

Yuta laughed as his eyes quickly scanned the numerous pages of ingredients and measurements. There was actually more in here than he expected. And quite a lot that Hide hadn’t offered him before. “You’ve… put a lot into this, haven’t you,” he commented in awe.

Hide let out a soft huff and a small smile. “It’s just a hobby, really,” he said, downplaying it before taking a swig of his beer. “Not as if I’d ever have the time to make all of that.”

“If I saw this before your coffee stand opened, I’d have thought that you were going to open a bakery or something,” Yuta said.

“That's what  _ I _ wanted to do in the beginning,” Hide revealed, taking another drink. “But coffee ran in the family and father said that using the family name and business would increase the probability of success for the stall.”

“He’s not wrong,” Yuta nodded. The long queues which persisted even now were clearly proof of that. “But that puts the coffee at the forefront rather than your baking.”

“Exactly!” Hide agreed, already getting animated as he pointed his index finger at Yuta. “I know I make good coffee but I’m just brewing coffee all the time and I don’t have the time or energy left to bake enough goods to sell throughout the day,” he grumbled.

“That is, unless you have someone else to brew and replenish the coffee for you,” Yuta raised.

“The quality and flavour will change,” Hide sighed dramatically and gulped down more beer. “And the single-serving hand-dripped coffee,” he groaned. “Why did I add that to the menu?”

“I’d assume it’s because that’s something you’re proud of,” Yuta surmised, handing the notebook back to Hide. 

“But it’s such a pain to make,” Hide whined, slouching into the couch. “And everyone keeps ordering it, too!”

“Maybe take it off the menu, then,” Yuta shrugged. That’s what  _ he _ would do. He’d just tell customers a troublesome drink out of stock or season or something. 

“You know,” Hide sat up suddenly, beer sloshing in his almost-empty can. “I actually have half a mind to,” he shared, “but the damned food reviewers have started touting that as the star specialty.”

Yuta laughed and shook his head. “Well, then, it’s too late now, isn’t it?”

“Do you think they’d buy it if I said I don’t have the right beans?” Hide mused, eyes squinting at the ceiling as he drank up the last of whatever was in his can.

“If you said that, your family will probably fix that for you,” Yuta guessed. Getting up from the couch, he took Hide’s empty can from him, and asked, “I’ll get you another?”

Hide frowned and stared hard at the can which Yuta just took from him, thinking for a good while before he nodded and said, “Sure.”

“Alright, then,” Yuta nodded, feeling somewhat pleased that he had successfully made a drinking partner out of Hide. For now, at least. After all, he couldn’t guess how Hide would feel about this tomorrow once the alcohol was out of his system.


	24. 24

The ear-grating chime of the morning news program woke a grumpy Yuta up. That was  _ not _ a noise he enjoyed hearing. It reminded him too much of waking up early for school. In fact, he made it a point to not get himself employed in regular office jobs so that he would never have to hear it again. And he shouldn’t be hearing it now. So why was the female presenter greeting him good morning?

Still too reluctant to open his eyes, Yuta scrunched up his face as he sat up, or rather, tried to. Something was weighing him down. Annoyance bubbled up in his chest. First the morning chime, now this? What the heck?

Yuta snapped his eyes open with a huff and looked around. He was in the living room, lying on the couch. The TV was on, of course. There were cigarette butts in the ashtray and… so many beer cans on the coffee table and even on the floor. Those were not all his, were they? Yuta knew that he could drink more than this but he wouldn’t consume so much beer alone on a regular night.

The weight which immobilised Yuta shifted, drawing his attention to his biggest obstacle of the morning… A sleeping HIde?

Taken aback by the sight of Hide’s messy mop of hair on his chest, Yuta felt his breath catch in his throat. How did they end up sleeping on the couch like this? Yuta stiffly looked at the beer cans. … They were drinking. Yuta invited Hide to join him. Yes, that was what happened. Then, Hide spoke a lot. Yuta remembered the baseball game going on. The Giants were leading 4 to 2. Then… what?

Arms tightened around Yuta as soft, deep breathing turned into a grunt and a sigh. Yuta froze. Was Hide waking up? Then again, wasn’t it about time for Hide to get up and prepare?

“Uh…” Yuta uttered, somewhat at a loss. How should he go about this?

Yuta tried squirming under Hide but that didn’t work. Hide didn’t stir and he was still sound asleep. Yuta wrinkled his nose and huffed. What now? Maybe…

Yuta shrugged his shoulder and eased an arm out. With one hand free, Yuta brushed Hide’s hair aside to reveal his sleeping face. Poking his cheek, Yuta tried again. “Oy, Hide.”

A frown appeared on Hide’s brow but all he did was turn away to hide his cheek. Or rather, his entire face. His face was now pressed against Yuta.

“Wow,” Yuta muttered, getting annoyed again. This time, he shook Hide as hard as he could. “Wake up!” he huffed.

“Mmh…”

“It’s past opening time!” Yuta urged.

“Huh!?” Hide pushed himself up in wide-eyed panic. “What time is it?”

“A bit past six,” Yuta mumbled with a sigh of relief. He could finally breathe easier now that he was free from Hide’s deadweight. Dropping his head onto the couch’s armrest, Yuta added, “Not opening time but a bit late for you, isn’t it?”

“Huh, yeah,” Hide nodded, looking bleary again as he calmed down. He sank down and knelt on the couch, staring into space while Yuta tucked his legs towards himself.

“Not going to wash up?” Yuta asked.

“Let me just… gather myself,” Hide muttered, rubbing his face with a hand as he looked around. “We drank a lot, huh?” he commented.

“Seems like it,” Yuta nodded nonchalantly, thinking in the back of his mind that he should probably continue sleeping in his room. “How do you feel?” he asked Hide.

“I’m… okay,” Hide scratched his head. “Maybe just a bit more tired than usual.”

“Not hungover?” Yuta asked. “Headaches, anything?”

“No,” Hide shook his head then smiled. “I’m okay.”

Yuta felt a jolt in his heart but he quickly buried it and responded with, “Good, good.” That was weird.

Hide looked up at the clock and ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “I guess there’s no time for breakfast,” he said to himself. Then, he turned to Yuta and added, “Sorry about that.”

“Nhuh?” 

“There won’t be breakfast today,” Hide reiterated apologetically.

“Oh, it’s fine. I’ll just grab food from the convenience store or something,” Yuta assured. “I can get something for you later if you don’t have time,” he offered. “I’m thinking of going back to sleep in the meantime…”

“Mm…” Hide squinted his eyes and frowned as he gave it a thought. Angling an eyebrow, he mumbled, “Riceball…?”

“Flavour?”

“Tuna mayo,” Hide nodded with his eyes shut. “And banana.”

“Really?” Yuta blurted flatly.

Hide opened one eye and looked at Yuta, “Or a… peach?” 

“Really?”

“I need a fruit,” Hide replied, almost whining.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go see what they have later on,” Yuta gave in. Sliding his legs off the couch, he stood up and walked to his room. “You go start your work. I’m going back to bed,” he declared.

“Yuta?” Hide called.

Looking over his shoulder, Yuta grunted, “Huh?”

“Thanks,” Hide smiled.

Yuta felt his heart jolt again. He didn’t expect Hide to… smile at him. But… “What for?”

“Dealing with my drunk self. And breakfast,” Hide replied.

“Oh, yeah, sure, no problem,” Yuta responded, nodding as he turned and pushed his room door open. Hide’s drunk self? Apart from the chattiness, Yuta didn’t even remember much of what Hide was like drunk. It felt… concerning. 

“I’ll see you downstairs,” Hide bade.

“Yeah,” Yuta nodded again and shut the door behind him. Oh, well, whatever. He wasn’t going to think about all of that. Not now, at least. Now, it was time for sleep.


	25. 25

Yuta rang his bicycle bell a few times as he sped down the pavement on his way back from the convenience store. He actually overslept a bit and frankly, it wouldn’t matter to him personally. But he promised Hide breakfast and he would assume that Hide would expect Yuta to drop it off to him just before 10 a.m., when Yuta normally snuck in for a morning coffee, so he hurried.

Yuta hasn't had a need to ride his bicycle in a while, but the good thing about bicycles is you’d never forget how to ride them. Although, he did come very close to running straight into innocent pedestrians. Which is why he started desperately ringing his bell, announcing his approach and passing to anyone and everyone who could hear him.

Yuta started to let his guard down as he came into their district but he probably shouldn’t have at all, not even when he neared his stall. Because he crashed into someone right outside Hide’s stall. To be fair, that person was the one who was running towards him. So, it wasn’t entirely Yuta’s fault. And now, getting a better look at who he ran into as he righted himself, Yuta had to admit that he would’ve probably tried to deliberately run him over anyway. Somehow, despite Yuta's efforts, Goto had found him again.

With the plastic bag of breakfast food in hand, Yuta carefully leaned his bicycle against the wall as he yelled, “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“I’ve finally found you!” Goto replied, his enthusiasm unshaken despite having ended up on the ground.

Hide came running out of his stall, eyes wide with alarm as he looked at the scene before him and asked, “What happened?” 

“We’re going inside!” Yuta declared, making an effort to disregard Goto as he shoved Hide back into the stall.

“Isn’t that your… acquaintance?” Hide asked, unsure about what to call Goto as he looked over his shoulder.

“I’ve been making efforts to no longer be acquainted with him!” Yuta hissed. And he thought he had been successful until the recent encounter. Or, now, encounters.

As expected, Goto followed them in. “Big bro-!”

“Don’t call me that!” Yuta snapped.

“Big bro?” Hide repeated, looking at Yuta with a confused expression.

“Big bro, I have decided to support you!” Goto stubbornly persisted. “Regardless of what you say, I’ll support you!” he said again. Looking at Hide, he added, “And him.”

“Me?” Hide pointed at himself.

“Yes,” Goto nodded. “You live together, right?”

“And?!” Yuta growled as he purposely kept his attention on the plastic bag while fishing out Hide’s breakfast.

“And you’re still my big bro-”

“I’m not!” Yuta denied, eyes flashing. “I told you I’m not about that life anymore!”

“Actually, since the last time I bumped into you-”

“You followed me!” Yuta corrected angrily, putting Hide’s rice ball on the counter.

Goto didn’t seem to hear him. “-I’ve been thinking about moving on from that too, so I thought, maybe I’d follow you,” he beamed.

“But I don’t want you to follow me!”

“You said…” Hide started, “you’d support… us?” He gestured at Yuta and himself.

“Yes!” Goto nodded.

“No!” Yuta shook his head. Pulling Hide, closer he hissed, “What the hell are you doing?!”

“We spoke about this last night, didn’t we?” Hide asked with an a-matter-of-fact tone.

“About what?!”

“Hiring help?”

“Ah… But him!?” Yuta pointed at Goto.

Hide pressed his lips thin and shook his head as if in disapproval at Yuta's reaction. Shifting his attention back to Goto, he asked, “Would you be interested to work for me?”

“Oy!” Yuta smacked Hide’s arm but Hide was focused on Goto’s response. 

“You’ll have me?” Goto asked in disbelief. 

“Only if you can show up here before 7 a.m. Everyday,” Hide stated. “If you can’t, then take it that I never asked.”   


Goto grimaced at Hide’s requirement and for a blissful moment, he looked as if he was about to decline the offer but instead, he steeled his resolve and said, “I’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Before 7 a.m.?” Hide emphasised.

“Before… 7 a.m.,” Goto nodded, albeit slightly reluctantly. Yuta could understand. After all, he chose to open his stall at 10 a.m. instead for a reason.

“Good,” Hide nodded once. “I’ll be expecting you tomorrow morning, then.”

“Yes! Thank you!” Goto bowed and retreated out the door. “I won’t let you down, big bro!”

“Me?!” Yuta yelled as Goto ran off. What did he have to do with this? He didn’t even want Goto here! On that note, he turned to Hide. “Why'd you have to hire him?!”

“Because he showed up right at our doorstep,” Hide grinned, smiling for some reason. "And I spoke about not having enough time, right?"

“So?” Yuta prompted. “You’ve got to know that guy can’t brew coffee! He knows nothing about coffee!”

“But he could run the cash register for me, right?” Hide pointed out. “That alone would already free up time for me.”

“What if he’s not efficient enough? Doesn't pick things up fast enough?" Yuta raised. "What if he… steals from your cash register? For example?” 

“Then, he can leave,” Hide said decisively. “If he’s not helping, I’ll have him leave and you’ll probably get him out of your hair at the same time,” he went on. “If he’s good, well, good for me. And him, I suppose.”

While the bad scenario sounded great for Yuta, the good scenario didn’t. He just didn’t like this idea at all. “And me?” Yuta raised. “What’s in it for me if he’s here to stay?”

“I’ll make sure he’s too tired from work to bother you,” Hide grinned.

Yuta scrunched his face up and released an exasperated sigh. As much as he hated this idea, it looked like there was no changing Hide’s mind. “I just hope you don’t regret this,” Yuta muttered. After all, there would be more trouble for them if things turned bad.


	26. 26

After dinner and a quick round of drinks with his friends, Yuta arrived home to find a grumpy looking Hide sitting on the couch with a cigarette between his fingers and an open can of beer in front of him. This was  _ not _ what Yuta expected to see. Especially when it was only a couple of days ago when Yuta had to try his hardest to convince Hide to drink with him. Plus, this was only the second day that Hide had Goto work with him. Were things really so bad that Hide had to start drinking on his own?

Approaching Hide, Yuta started, “I… take it things went…?” 

Hide turned and gave Yuta a hard look. “It went fine,” he replied curtly before staring at the air before him again.

“You don’t look glad that it’s fine,” Yuta pointed out.

At this, Hide snorted, “I’d be happier if he wasn’t so…”

“Annoying?” Yuta offered.

Hide scrunched his face up with a frown. “You could say that.”

“So?” Yuta asked a little triumphantly as he took off his jacket and hung it up. He knew Goto would get under Hide’s skin. Yuta fetched a can of beer for himself and probed, “What did Goto do?”

“You don’t even know his name,” Hide muttered to himself.

“What?” Yuta blurted.

“His name isn’t Goto,” Hide grumbled. “It’s Miyata.”

“Ah?” Yuta blinked. Had he been getting Go- Miyata’s wrong this whole time? Why hadn’t he been corrected before? “But he never said anything…”

“I don’t think you’ve actually directly addressed him by his name before,” Hide replied before taking a long drag from his cigarette. “You’d just… address him,” he waved a hand in a random direction. “And he responds.”

“Hm, I guess,” Yuta mumbled as he sat down next to Hide. “Well, what does it matter,” he shrugged and drank his beer.

“What does it matter?” Hide repeated with a scoff.

“Does it?” Yuta asked, leaning back into the couch. “He’s not working for me.”

“But he won’t stop talking about you,” Hide grumbled.

“Huh?”

“Every. Single. Time. He opens his mouth, he talks about you,” Hide said, pressing his lips thin with a frown. “Why does he keep asking about you?” he asked as he turned to look at Yuta. “What did you do?”

“What did  _ I _ do?” Yuta blurted. “What did  _ you _ do?” he returned the question, hoping to get Hide’s curiosity off him. “What did you say to him?”

“Me?!” Hide sucked hard on his cigarette before saying, “I don’t even know what to say when he keeps asking about things like our daily routines and what we eat and all these weird… things?” He threw his hands into the air. “Why does he need to know these things?!”

Yuta furrowed his brow and drank deeply. He couldn’t quite fathom why but… “Didn’t he mention something about following me?”

“If that’s his intention, to what extent?!” Hide exclaimed. Reaching for his beer can, he was about to have a drink when he shook it and realised that it was empty. Wrinkling his nose in annoyance, he put the can back down with a clatter.

“Hey, hey, take mine,” Yuta pushed his can to Hide. “I’ll just get another,” he said, getting up to go to the fridge again. If Hide was going to be in a bad mood, he didn’t want to give the man any more reason to exacerbate his present mood.

As Yuta opened the fridge, he heard Hide putting the can down with a hollow-sounding clunk. Yuta pressed his lips thin and took two cans out of the fridge. Hide would probably want a new one soon. And looking at what they had in the fridge… they need to restock it soon. He should keep in mind to make a trip down to the supermarket tomorrow.

Returning to Hide, Yuta put one can in front of the grumpy man before sitting down and opening a fresh one for himself. “Well,” he started, “are you gonna get rid of him then?”

“Tempted to,” Hide muttered, wrinkling his nose. “But…”

“But?”

“I made more pastries,” Hide said, turning to look at Yuta again. This time, his expression was less severe. “You… want some?” he asked.

Yuta couldn’t resist snorting a laugh. Hide’s mood always improved when it came to his baking. “What did you make?” Yuta asked, lighting a cigarette for himself. 

“I was trying out financiers this afternoon,” Hide mumbled.

“How did that turn out?”

“I think it was alright,” Hide said to himself. “But Miyata finished all the leftovers,” he scowled, his voice suddenly angry again. “And I wanted to give some to you too,” Hide moaned.

“Ah… It’s alright,” Yuta assured, although he was honestly not sure how to react to this. “I can just try them the next time you make them.”

Hide didn't look satisfied with the answer though. Letting out a frustrated noise, he took one more drag from his cigarette before roughly stabbing it out on the ashtray. “He's helpful,” Hide muttered as he folded his arms and leaned back. “But he gets in the way of my plans.”

“What plans?” Yuta asked.

“… Food… plans,” Hide replied, suddenly hesitant.

“Is he eating too much?” Yuta chuckled. “You  _ could _ tell him that it's not allowed, you know?”

“I think he got the message.”

“Yeah?”

“He looked really guilty when I said they were for you,” Hide revealed. “Maybe even a bit worried.”

“Worried? Why?” Yuta asked. “Did you scare him?” he laughed.

“Maybe it’s you he’s worried about,” Hide mused as he picked up his beer can and swished it around gently. “After all, he ate your financiers.”

“Shall I go over tomorrow-”

“No,” Hide suddenly cut in.

“No?” Yuta echoed, surprised by how quickly that answer came. “Am I still barred from your stall?” he said with a slightly choked laugh. This was an odd request of Hide’s. He barged into Yuta’s stall yesterday, on G- Miyata’s first day and told Yuta not to go over. Hide would come over instead. Now Yuta was starting to wonder if this had anything to do with Hide’s annoyance with Miyata.

“I’ll continue to bring you your morning coffee,” Hide said with a firm nod. “And financiers. I’ll make more tomorrow,” he added.

“Extra buttery?” Yuta grinned. That was something to look forward to.

“I’ll make them extra buttery for you,” Hide nodded again before drinking from his can.

Now that they were talking about food, this might be a good time for Yuta to ask Hide… “Hey, the banana juice you mentioned…”

“Hm? Yeah?” Hide responded, eyes lighting up at the mention of banana juice.

“I’m guessing you’d prefer the milk version over water, right?”

“Uh… huh,” Hide nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I bought a bunch of bananas the other day at the convenience store and I think they’d be just about ripe tomorrow,” Yuta said, shrugging to add an air of nonchalance as he drank more beer. “And I came across a recipe or two so I thought I’d give it a go or something,” he added. On second thought, maybe he shouldn’t have said so much. Yuta felt like he was rambling. He shifted awkwardly on the couch and crossed his legs before emptying out his can as an excuse to  _ not _ look at Hide. 

“Are you… gonna make banana juice?” Hide asked, his voice soft.

“Yeah, but don't expect too much,” Yuta warned. “I've never made it before so I don't know if it's gonna be any good,” he added as he glanced at Hide whose eyes were squinted in a smile.

“And you don't like sweet stuff,” Hide pointed out, beaming from ear to ear.

“You sure remember that, don't you,” Yuta remarked curtly. Hide's smile was giving him weird feelings in his gut and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

Unfazed, Hide went on, “Yet you've never rejected my pastries.”

“Because it'd be rude to decline food,” Yuta deflected. “Besides, they're good, I'm not stupid enough to decline good food,” he added quickly. “Anyway, we’ll see if I get around to trying out that banana juice thing tomorrow,” Yuta went on. “I’ll need your opinion if I do.”

“You’re making banana juice just for me?” Hide grinned as he folded his arms and continued looking at Yuta with his cheek in his hand.

Was he? Sullenly smoking his cigarette, Yuta didn’t know. Although, he knew he certainly didn’t intend to distribute the way he did with the summer specials. 

“Do you intend to add it into your menu?” Hide asked.

“I… haven’t thought that far,” Yuta muttered before downing the rest of his beer. Mind still dwelling on Hide’s questions, Yuta quietly slid off the couch to get more beer from the fridge.

“Yet you’re going to try and make it?” Hide asked, still gazing at him with that strange smile of his.

“Yeah,” Yuta replied, taking two more cans of beer out. This much he was sure of.

“Why?”

“Because you mentioned it…?” Yuta paused. Was that all? He didn’t really have any other reason… did he?

“Yeah?”

Yuta turned and met Hide’s smiling eyes. Teeth biting on his cigarette filter, he took a moment to think again. But no matter how hard he tried, all he could come up with was, “Yeah, that’s all.”


	27. 27

“Why are you still here?” Yuta muttered. Standing behind his counter, he watched Hide slowly pace around his stall in silence as he drank his peach tea. 

Hide shrugged nonchalantly and Yuta frowned. The man really doesn’t talk much when he has no alcohol in his system.

“Don’t you have to watch your stall?” Yuta asked.

“Miyata’s there,” Hide replied.

“Don’t you have to watch  _ him _ ?” Yuta asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s only his third day on the job, isn’t it?”

At this question, Hide dropped his eyes to the ground and muttered, “I don’t… really…… It’s fine.”

Yuta folded his arms. “Is it?”

“It’s about time things wind down,” Hide justified as he bit his straw and then sipped his tea. “It’s fine,” he reiterated.

Yuta pursed his lips and huffed. Just as he was about to say something, a group of ladies entered the stall. Turning his attention to them, he greeted them with a cheerful welcome and bright smile while waiting patiently for them to place their orders. He could feel Hide's eyes on him, watching quietly from one of the high stools lined up along the wall beyond the counter as he tapped on his cashier system and started mixing the drinks.

Yuta could hear the ladies talking among themselves. Commenting about the weather, about him, about Hide, about their stalls, about their plans later.

“… but it's a pity he's kind of short.” A chorus of hushes rose up.

Oh, they're talking about him again. Yuta wrinkled his nose. He felt miffed but what could he do? It wasn’t as if this was the first time he had heard such a remark about himself. It was just a matter of fact after all. Sure, Yuta was still taller than a good number of girls but even they tended to look for taller men.

Swallowing his discontentment down, Yuta put on his customer service smile and served up the drinks. He watched the ladies stab the straws into their cups, sip their drinks and finally, walk out the door. Only then did he let his smile fall into a sour expression. Wrinkling his nose, Yuta slapped the “Back in 5 Minutes” sign onto the counter and stomped out the back door. He needed a cigarette.

Before he even stepped into the back alley, Yuta already had a cigarette in his mouth and had started flicking his lighter. He rolled the spark wheel again, and again, and again, and again, but all he kept getting was… well, sparks. He cursed and slapped his lighter against his palm. It couldn’t have already run out of fuel, could it?

Right when Yuta was about to try again, he heard a click and a hand appeared offering him the flame from another lighter. It was Hide. Yuta readily accepted the offer without a word, opting to light his cigarette first and take a long, deep breath before muttering, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” came Hide’s quiet reply.

Out of habit, Yuta squatted down to continue his smoking. He was just more comfortable like this with his ass on the drain ledge. But with Hide standing next to him and Yuta still feeling bitter about his height, he was starting to feel even more frustrated. 

“Not gonna come down to my height?” Yuta remarked brusquely with a huff.

“Oh, I, uh…” Hide removed his cigarette from his lips and cast his eyes to the pavement. “I can’t squat,” he mumbled before bending a knee and adding, “My legs can’t… take that angle.”

“Oh, right.” Yuta cursed internally. He had completely forgotten about Hide’s old injuries. And now he felt bad for being thorny with Hide. “Sorry about that,” he muttered. “I forgot about your…” Yuta gestured at Hide's legs.

“Forgot?” Hide furrowed his brow and scratched his chin. “Have I… told you about this before?”

Yuta froze. Indeed Hide hadn't spoken with him about this before. It was through Imai's sleuthing that he found out. “Uh…” How should he explain this? “I, uh, came across an article with you in it the other day and read about it,” he said.

“Oh, I see…” Hide went silent. Well, it was normal for him to be quiet but this time, the situation made it feel… awkward. But Yuta didn't know what to say. After all, he couldn't quite guess what was going through Hide's mind right now.

“Y'know, a whole bunch of us used to squat along the side of the road together,” Yuta blurted, thinking back to days long past. “Standing, you could easily tell who's taller and all that, but when we're sitting or squatting, we're all level, y'know?” he went on. Yuta didn't even know why he suddenly felt like saying this. But, well, it was better than silence.

Then, Hide moved. Startled, Yuta watched as Hide stiffly lowered himself onto the ledge. He sat, crouching and grunting until he settled down stretched his legs out. Finally, he turned to Yuta and grinned at him. “We're the same height now,” Hide remarked.

Covering his face with a hand, he could hardly believe what Hide just did. He didn’t even know how he should react to it. After a moment of stunned silence, Yuta’s shoulders shook as he started to snicker. “I… guess we are,” he muttered while choking back a laugh.

Hide simply smiled back, seemingly pleased with Yuta’s reaction. Yuta still wasn't quite sure what that was all about but at least it lightened the mood, making him feel legitimately better by the time his cigarette burnt out.

When he was done, Yuta tossed the cigarette butt into the drain and stood up. Hide, too, tossed his cigarette butt away but Yuta spotted a passing grimace on the man’s face when he bent his knee. Wordlessly, Yuta offered him a hand, which Hide gratefully accepted. With a grunt and a huff, Hide got to his feet and once again, towered over Yuta.

“You didn’t have to do that, y’know?” Yuta commented while Hide dusted his pants off.

“Do what?”

“Sit on the floor with me.”

“Oh…” Hide looked a little bit sheepish. “I just thought you’d feel better…”

Ah, so that’s what it was. Yuta started getting that strange fuzzy, yet confusing feeling in his gut again as he let out an awkward laugh and said, “I did. Thanks.”

Hide met Yuta’s eyes and beamed at him again. “You’re welcome.”

Suddenly, something clicked in Yuta’s mind. “You’re waiting for your banana juice, aren’t you?”

Now, it was Hide who looked embarrassed as he hurriedly denied, “Ah, no, it’s fine if you didn’t-”

“It’s still chilling,” Yuta revealed. “I didn’t want to use ice but I’ve got half in the freezer and half in the fridge. I thought of waiting until after we closed shop before letting you try it.”

Hide’s expression lit up at the prospect. “I will look forward to it, then.”

“I just hope it turned out well,” Yuta sighed.

“I’d drink it all regardless,” Hide grinned.

Yuta snorted a laugh, “I’ll hold you to it.”

Silence fell between them again as Hide gave him another wide smile and Yuta finally realised that they had been standing in the middle of the alley like this the whole time. He sure let himself get carried away, huh?

Internally chastising himself, Yuta started to turn his feet away and said, “I should get back.”

“Ah, yes, same,” Hide nodded somewhat reluctantly. “I should… check on my muffins… I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Yuta nodded and gave Hide a half-hearted wave as he hopped back into his stall. Once alone, Yuta noticed a strange tension slipping away. Huh. Odd. Was that really how he felt when he was interacting with Hide? Tense? But Hide doesn’t give him bad vibes. So, why…?


	28. 28

“What you got there?” Yuta asked, eyeing the plastic bags Hide brought in with him. The front door was already locked but Yuta was just done with cleaning up. Hide closed shop earlier than he did, though. And it looked like he made a detour to somewhere before coming by.

“Dinner,” Hide announced. “I’m guessing you haven’t eaten?” he surmised as he pulled one of the chairs around the stall towards the counter.

“I intended to skip dinner, actually,” Yuta confessed. Besides, he wasn’t feeling particularly hungry since he had been munching on Hide’s financiers throughout the day.

“Good thing I bought food, then,” Hide said, putting the bags on the counter. “Katsu or curry?” he asked.

“No katsu curry?” Yuta asked as he washed his hands. Pulling out a paper towel to dry his hands, he turned around and saw a frown on Hide’s face as he considered the two food boxes he got. 

Looking up at Yuta, Hide suggested, “Share?”

Yuta shrugged and nodded at the same time. He didn’t mind anyway. Just before he sat down on the opposite of Hide, he asked, “I guess this means you’d prefer having the juice after…?” Yuta gestured at the food.

Hide nodded as he placed a pair of disposable chopsticks on Yuta’s side of the counter. “After dinner,” he affirmed.

“Alright,” Yuta nodded and sat down. Muttering the customary “Itadakimasu”, he set to work, mixing curry into a spoonful of rice from Hide’s side of the counter while Hide snagged a piece of egg and onion topped pork katsu from Yuta’s side.

As they ate, Yuta started to get a strange sense that someone was looking at him. Rather intensely too. Frowning, Yuta looked up at Hide. Well, at least, he thought it was Hide looking at him but Hide was happily munching on the katsu he dipped in the curry. He did, however, notice when Yuta paused to look at him and responded with a questioning look of his own.

Yuta pressed his lips thin and shook his head. Maybe he was just imaging- Wait. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuta noticed something outside the locked front door. Or rather, someone. He snapped his head in that direction and immediately scowled. Imai was standing outside, a cheeky grin on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Yuta waved his hands, gesturing at Imai to shoo and leave. Instead, Imai smiled even wider and placed his phone screen against the glass to show Yuta what was on his screen; Kanemitsu's contact page.

Yuta immediately slapped his chopsticks down and stood up in warning. “No, you don't!” he said, pointing at Imai.

“Let me in,” Imai said, his voice barely audible through the glass.

Yuta wrinkled his nose and huffed. He didn't really want to, but if Imai gave Kanemitsu his version of what he saw, Yuta would never hear the end of it. Grumbling to himself, he reluctantly stood up and started rummaging his pockets for the key.

“Unlocking the door?” Hide asked as Yuta fished the key out.

“Yeah,” Yuta huffed.

Hide stretched a hand towards Yuta. “I’ll go,” he offered. “So you don’t have to walk all that way.”

“No, it’s fine-”

In a split second, Hide reached over and snatched the key out of Yuta’s hand. Before Yuta could react, Hide already had one knee to the floor, crouching over to unlock the door. Yuta sat back down and folded his arms as he watched Hide push the door open to let a gleeful Imai in.

“Aren’t you supposed to be serving up dinner now?” Yuta questioned. “It’s only half-past eight.”

“It’s Tuesday,” Imai replied with a smile. “We’re closed.”

“Ah, so that’s why Acchan’s not with you, huh?” Yuta remarked as he watched Hide come back to the counter. As he sat down, Hide handed the key back to Yuta who went on, “Off roaming somewhere, is he?”

“Drinking,” Imai corrected.

“Ah,” Yuta nodded sagely. “With-”

“Yeah,” Imai cut in abruptly. “But, I’m not here to talk about Acchan,” he said, changing the subject. “I’m here about,” Imai gestured at the two of them and the food, “this.”

“What’s wrong with this?” Yuta retorted as he started eating again. “Store-bought food too lowly for you?”

“Hah! I just had some myself, no qualms there,” Imai chuckled. “I’m talking about all  _ this _ ,” he waved his hand around. “The dimmed lights-”

“The shop is closed, of course the lights are dimmed,” Yuta bit back.

“ -eating down here when you live  _ right upstairs _ ,” Imai went on, ignoring Yuta’s response.

“It’s more convenient down here,” Yuta continued his replies anyway. “We can just clear up and toss it all away when we’re done. No need to wash utensils or clean up-”

“You two look like you’re having some sort of romantic dinner in this setting,” Imai finished, chuckling again.

“And yet you demanded to come in?” Yuta retorted.

A smile spread on Imai’s face. “So you’re not denying it?”

“What?” 

“That you’re having a romantic dinner together?”

“This is  _ far _ from a romantic dinner, Imai,” Yuta frowned. What was he playing at?

“Romantic is a matter of perspective,” Imai corrected. Turning to Hide, he asked, “So, what do you think?”

“Huh?”

“Of this romantic dinner date?”

“Uh…” Hide was at a loss for words as his eyes darted between Imai and Yuta. “Well… I mean, the dinner itself was an impromptu thing,” he finally replied. “I decided to buy it just a short while ago but this wasn’t the original plan.”

“So what’s the original plan?” Imai probed, planting his elbow on the counter to hold his chin in his hand.

“I was just supposed to try Yuta’s banana juice.”

Almost immediately, Imai burst out laughing. Preempting Imai’s reaction, Yuta had a warning tone in his voice as he raised his voice and said, “No! No, no! Imai, no!”

Imai turned to Yuta. “You got that far?” he asked, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“I  _ blended _ banana juice!” Yuta clarified. Hopping off his high stool, he opened a fridge door to show Imai a clear flask of that pale yellow fruit blend. “ _ Actual _ banana juice.”

“Oh, god,” Imai laughed again. Pointing a finger at both Yuta and Hide, he said, “I seriously thought you two were-”

“Nooooo,” Yuta denied, shaking his head. “You thought wrong.”

“Ah…” Hide’s face lit up in realisation. Looking at Imai, he said, “So, you thought it was… innuendo?”

“Well, I guess you didn’t mean it that way,” Imai shrugged. “Unless…?”

“Unless…” Hide fell silent. He cast a quick glance in Yuta’s direction and a strange unreadable expression appeared on his face. “Hm.”

Yuta blinked. ‘Hm’? What’s ‘hm’? What was that reaction?

“Mmhm,” Imai hummed back, nodding. “Well, I’ll leave you two to your… clandestine banana juice tasting session,” he declared as he straightened up. “I have to go and meet up with Acchan.”

“Clandestine?” Yuta repeated. “It’s not clandestine,” he denied. 

“That’s not something you’re going to put on your menu, is it?” Imai pointed out.

“I… don’t know yet,” Yuta muttered. He truly didn’t.

“If you had that intention, you’d have made us all try it already,” Imai smirked. “So, isn’t this clandestine?”

“It… mm…” Yuta didn’t know what to say to that. 

“Anyhow, I’m going,” Imai stepped away. “No need to escort me, I’ll see myself out the backdoor,” he said. “And maybe book a table with me next time you two have dinner, why don’t you?” Imai added with a wink.

As the lanky man disappeared into the back, Yuta called after him, “Yeah, yeah. Great idea when I don’t even eat raw fish, isn’t it?”

Yuta heard a laugh, the closing of the door, and Imai was gone. It was just Hide and him again. Exchanging a glance with each other, Hide broke out in a smile and mumbled, “That was… something, huh?”

Yuta could only let out a huff and a laugh as he shook his head and agreed, "It sure was."


	29. 29

“No more peach?”

Yuta folded his arms and huffed at the sight of Hide's crestfallen face. “It's a seasonal flavour so now that the season is over, it's not on the menu anymore,” he explained. He thought it was common knowledge that this was how flavour rotation works, but considering Hide's reaction, perhaps not.

“But… isn't it popular?” Hide pointed out.

“Yes, it was.”

“Then why would you remove a popular item from your menu?”

Pinching his nose bridge, Yuta let out an exasperated sigh. “Maybe it’s popular because it’s seasonal?” he countered. “Maybe it wouldn’t have sold as well if it’s always on the menu?”

“But… How would you know if you don’t try keeping it as a regular item?” Hide challenged.

“I’d… just… very much rather keep it as a seasonal special, alright?” Yuta said through gritted teeth. Just how adamant was Hide going to be about getting a peach-flavoured drink? Heck, even the convenience stores are no longer carrying summer specials.

Hide looked  _ very _ distraught, though. Yuta thought his reaction was childish, but watching him mutter, “But peach…” to himself made Yuta feel bad for Hide. Yet, as much as he wanted to make Hide feel better, he didn’t even have enough ingredients to whip up another batch of banana juice to placate the man with. It took them around five tries but Yuta finally managed to get it  _ just right _ yesterday. Which resulted in Hide finishing all of it at dinner.

Yuta sighed again, “I really don’t have-” The distant ring of a bell caught Yuta off-guard, making him pause. He hadn’t heard that particular sound in a while. Stepping out from behind the counter, Yuta muttered, “C’mon, let’s go see if he has any peach anything for you.”

“Who?” Hide asked.

“Issay. He rarely comes by but he’s got really good sherbet,” Yuta replied. “C’mon,” he beckoned. “Before he runs out of stocks.”

Hide looked confused but he followed Yuta anyway. Yuta assumed that he would. He looked desperate for his peach-flavouring fix anyway.

They made their way down to the street corner without exchanging a word, heading to where Issay usually parked his bike and ice cream cooler. Now that he thought about it, Yuta had never seen the man riding the thing. He always seemed to appear out of nowhere. The mental image of someone like Issay riding the bike around the city, though… 

Yuta lips twitched as he worked to keep a straight face when approaching the cheery-looking man. As expected, Atsushi was already there sitting next to Issay with a popsicle in his mouth.

Atsushi’s cheeks tensed in a smile as Yuta and Hide approached. Removing the ice bar with a pop, Atsushi turned to Issay and asked, “You haven’t met Hide, have you?”

“Haven’t had the pleasure to,” Issay beamed.

“Hide, meet Issay,” Yuta initiated, gesturing between the two men. “Issay, Hide.”

“Pleased to meet your acquaintance,” Issay said, offering his hand.

Shaking it, Hide returned with, “Likewise.”

“You run a cafe?” Issay asked.

“Ah, yes,” Hide nodded. “But how did you…?” 

“I can smell the coffee on you,” Issay smiled.

“Oh.”

“He’s Yuta’s housemate,” Atsushi commented. 

“Ah!” Issay snapped his fingers in realisation. “The one who’s taken up residence in Toll’s room?”

“Right, yeah,” Yuta confirmed. He almost forgot had been a topic over drinks sometime back when they  _ just _ agreed on the arrangements. It felt so long ago now. “Anyway, you got peach? Hide’s sore for something of that flavour,” he asked quickly. He didn’t want to give Atsushi or Issay any time to ask weird questions.

“You got one right there,” Issay pointed at Yuta’s hip with a smirk. “Not juicy enough for him to savour?”

Yuta sucked in a deep breath and felt his brow furrowing. Folding his arms, his hand held his chin and covered his mouth. Eyes shut, he heaved a heavy sigh while Atsushi snickered in the background. There was no dodging the teasing, was there? 

“Alright, alright,” Issay chuckled and got to his feet. With a satisfied gleam in his eye, he looked behind Yuta, at Hide and said, “I’ve got peach sherbet if you’re interested.”

Yuta heard Hide clearing his throat before answering quietly, “Yes, please.”

Glancing over his shoulder, Yuta made eye contact with Hide for a mere split-second before the taller man quickly looked away, supposedly to turn his attention to Issay who handed him a nondescript, fist-sized tub of sherbet. That left a somewhat uneasy sensation in Yuta’s gut, but he ignored it to step forward and drop the exact amount of money on Issay’s small countertop. Before anyone could say anything, Yuta asked, “You still got vanilla?”

“For someone who doesn’t have a sweet tooth, you sure do like vanilla,” Issay remarked.

“Your version is really fragrant,” Yuta pointed out. “It’s probably got something to do with the vanilla pods or essence that you use that makes it taste better than just sweetened milk,” he went on.

“Ah, the  _ seeds _ ,” Atsushi beamed. “And the fact that it's extra  _ creamy _ and  _ milky _ -”

Hide coughed loudly and cleared his throat a couple of times. It sounded as if he choked. Yuta looked over his shoulder at Hide who was now facing away from him. He could still see that Hide was red-faced, though. Maybe he really did choke.

“Alright, here,” Issay took out a similar-looking, fist-sized tub and placed it on the counter. “Saved one for you.”

“That’s the last one?!” Yuta blurted, surprised. “I thought you just arrived.”

“Nope,” Issay shook his head as he counted the coins Yuta placed on the counter. “Atsushi-kun’s already having his second popsicle.”

“Huh. Strange, I didn’t hear you until just now,” Yuta muttered.

Stepping away, he was just about to start on his vanilla ice when Issay suddenly said, “Hey, hey, hey. You’re short ten yen.”

“Oh, come on,” Yuta groaned as he fished his pockets for a coin. “Why so calculative? This is just a hobby for you anyway.”

“It may be a hobby, but it is also a  _ business _ ,” Issay smiled, holding up an open palm to accept Yuta’s coin. “Thank you."

Yuta simply clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Ignoring him, Issay put the coins away and sat down next to Atsushi again. Yuta thought Issay had turned his attention back to Atsushi, but just as he was about to ask Hide what he thought of his sherbet, Issay piped up, “Joining us for drinks tonight?”

Caught off guard, Yuta blurted, “Huh?”

“Drinks,” Issay repeated. “At our usual place. We haven’t seen your mug around for a while, come to think of it,” he went on, lowering his voice as he commented to himself.

“Hide is invited too,” Atsushi added with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Yuta looked at Hide. “You wanna go?”

“If… you are,” Hide shrugged with an air of vagueness in his movements.

  
Well, Issay  _ was  _ right, though. It had been quite a while since he last joined everyone for drinks. Maybe it was about time Hide got to know more people in this city too. “Mm, yeah, we’ll be there,” Yuta decided. He just hoped the guys would lay off on the teasing.


	30. 30

This wasn’t quite how Yuta imagined the night to go. 

Yuta was, thankfully, spared from nonsensical teasing. He could even say that their time at the bar was rather pleasant. It turned out that despite Hide’s abruptly shortened soccer career, he was not just any small fry in the sporting world. That much was obvious when the guys at the neighbouring table approached him to ask him if he would join their district’s soccer team for the local division.

Yuta remembered the mix of emotions on Hide’s face; both excited and chagrined at the same time. He clearly enjoyed the sport enough to want to play it again, but his old injuries were giving him second thoughts. He ended that conversation with a vague answer of, “I’ll think about it.” They then left him a phone number to call if he ever wanted to join their sessions.

That little exchange prompted Yuta’s friends to ask Hide a barrage of questions and his answers, apparently, confirmed their suspicions that they, too, have heard of him. Or so they claimed. Yuta didn’t quite listen to their counter proposal to Hide but he was glad that they were all getting along well. And that the attention was no longer on him. It was all good. Until the shots came around.

From there, things quickly went downhill with Hide eventually getting knocked out drunk and Yuta hauling his obstructively long and muscly body home. Not that Yuta would complain to Hide about it, though. He did previously say that drunk Hide was no problem for him. But that was only because Hide wasn’t a rowdy drunk. On that thought, Yuta had to admit it could’ve been worse. Maybe this was not too bad after all.

They had to catch a taxi home, though. There was no way Yuta could drag Hide all the way home from the bar when he was practically leaning on Yuta the whole way out and now, Hide was asleep on him. But Yuta’s shoulder was too narrow for Hide to rest on properly. And so, down Yuta’s torso Hide slid until his head finally rested in his lap.

Despite all the bumps in the road and the jerking at the traffic lights, Hide never woke until the taxi stopped outside their front door. How Hide knew that they were home, Yuta couldn’t guess, but it was good that he woke up. It meant that Yuta wouldn’t have to carry his unconscious body up the stairs.

Hide did manage to get out of the taxi and walk himself through the door, but he lost all his motor skills again once he was halfway up the stairs. Yuta had to rush forward to stop him from flopping over and tumbling down the stairs. With a grunt and a huff, Yuta hugged Hide in as tight a vice grip he could muster before pulling the taller man up the rest of the way.

Once he reached the top of the stairs, though, Yuta let himself drop to the floor with Hide still resting on him. He was already panting. Yuta shook his head. He shouldn't be feeling this winded. The alcohol must be messing with his blood pressure.

During Yuta’s brief pause on the ground, Hide began to stir. Yuta breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, good,” he muttered as Hide shifted around. “Can you walk to your room on your-”

Yuta froze, eyes wide as he got cut off mid-sentence by Hide who had grabbed hold of Yuta’s face and was now pressing their lips together. Yuta could hear his blood pumping in his ears as his heart raced. What was Hide doing? Was he kissing him? Did Hide know who he was kissing?

Then, the pressure disappeared and Hide opened his bleary eyes. With Hide’s face hovering a mere inch away from his own, Yuta found himself completely speechless as they stared at each other. Well, it felt more like a sleepy, appreciative gaze coming from Hide but it didn’t change the fact that Yuta had no idea what he should do.

“Uh…” Maybe Yuta should try and see how aware Hide was. “Hide?” he began softly. “Are you-”

Hide leaned forward to kiss Yuta again. But this time, it was less abrupt and more… deliberate. Yuta’s cheeks felt warm and tingly as he found himself instinctively responding to Hide’s sensual kissing.

Even if he didn’t quite know how to feel about this, Yuta had to admit that the man was a very good kisser. There wasn’t anything he could do against it. He was… helpless? No. No, he wasn’t helpless. Yuta most certainly wasn’t rendered helpless by Hide’s kissing and… wandering hands- Wait, where were they going? Yuta tilted his head back in an attempt to break the kiss, but instead, Hide brought his lips lower, latching onto Yuta’s neck while a hand slid under his shirt.

“Wa-wait a minute,” Yuta said quickly, one hand clutching Hide’s shoulder while the other thumped on Hide’s back as he tried to snap Hide to his senses. Yuta tried to twist under Hide’s weight but as he moved his legs around, he brushed against… something… hard.

Now actual panic had begun to set in as the realisation of what direction they were headed in dawned on Yuta. “Hide,” he whispered, smacking the taller man with more urgency at the same time. Sure, it wasn’t bad so far but Yuta wasn’t about to get carried away like that. Besides, there was someone unlocking the front door. Wait… what? How was that possible? Aside from Hide and himself, the only other person who had a key was… 

“Anii!” Yuta unintentionally blurted once he saw Toll, his older brother walk in.

At the very moment when Toll turned to the scene, Hide bit into Yuta’s collarbone, eliciting an odd strangled noise which sounded something like a moan. Toll’s reaction was immediate. His footsteps thumped menacingly closer as he skipped steps to rush up the stairs and grab Hide by the back of his collar.

Everything happened in a blur; Hide still inebriated as he stumbled backwards and struggled to stand; Toll moving to lift Hide by his front collar and getting ready to beat the shit out of him; Yuta rushing in to yank the two of them apart.

Toll frowned, his face displaying confusion as his eyes met Yuta’s for a brief moment before they darted back to Hide and he growled, “Get out of the way.”

“No!” Yuta refused, bumping up against Toll when he tried to reach past Yuta.

“Yuta!” Toll snapped angrily. “No one gets away with assaulting-”

“It’s not like that!” Yuta interrupted as he pushed Toll away from Hide.

That gave Toll pause. Staring at Yuta stunned, he muttered, “What did you say?”

“It’s not…” Words began to fail Yuta as he struggled to explain the situation to Toll. ‘Assault’ was definitely not the word for it but… What was it? “I… It’s not like…” Yuta shook his head and groaned. Giving up, he looked at Toll with pleading eyes and said, “Anii, please, just… Don’t hit him?”

The anger never really left Toll’s face as his eyes kept shifting between Yuta and Hide. The tension in the air was palpable and Yuta was dying to make it dissipate, but he knew he had to let his brother process what he just said. He just… didn’t know what reaction to expect from him.

Eventually, Toll let out a groan and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Turning away, he shook his head and said to himself, “I need a fucking drink.”

Yuta and Hide remained frozen in place as they watched Toll turn into the stairwell and heard him walk out the door, leaving the two of them alone in the apartment again. Only then did Yuta let himself relax. But only a little. Hide’s fingers brushed his arm and Yuta flinched.

“Yuta,” Hide’s voice croaked, “I…”

“Please don’t touch me,” Yuta replied, stepping away without looking at Hide. 

“But… Mm…” Hide let out a heavy sigh and a groan.

“I… need some time alone,” Yuta mumbled. Without waiting for a response, he took a few quick strides towards his room. 

Yuta wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but as he was shutting the door behind him, he seemed to have heard Hide’s voice whispering, “I’m sorry.”


	31. 31

Sitting at the foot of his bed, Yuta watched the sky slowly turning light. He didn’t sleep. But, well, it was to be expected. His mind just wouldn’t stop alternating between replaying the events of last night and obsessing over the possible consequences which were to come.

What was to become of Hide and him? Did Hide apologise because he mistook Yuta for someone else? Was Anii going to come back? Was he going to try and get at Hide again? Or was he going to chastise Yuta for his life choices again? Why did he even come back?

A soft knock on the door derailed Yuta’s train of thought. “I've left you breakfast on the dining table,” said Hide's muffled voice. He sounded tired.

Yuta didn't respond. He didn't move either. He just stayed where he was and listened to Hide descending the stairs before eventually unlocking the door and leaving the house. Hide sure was diligent, keeping up with his routines despite last night. Yuta wasn't sure if he would open shop today. Although there were still a few good hours until then.

Yuta sighed and got to his feet. His butt felt numb from sitting on the floor for so long but that should wear off in a while. Shuffling to the door, Yuta swung it open and stepped out into the silent living room. He could hear Hide pulling up the shutters downstairs; the usual sounds of the start of a day.

When he walked towards the dining area, Yuta spotted a plastic dome on the table. Lifting it, he peeked under the food cover and found a couple of muffins on a plate. He couldn’t tell whether they were freshly baked, but they were warm. That much he could deduce from the aroma.

Pulling out a chair, Yuta sat at the table and picked one up. Come to think of it, the first things which Hide ever gave him were muffins, weren’t they? Yuta let out a soft huff as he bit into the fluffy, fragrant cake. What did he remember that for? It wasn’t supposed to be anything special anyway. Hide just gave him those in return for letting him stay that night. That’s all.

And yet, Yuta’s thoughts left a bitter feeling in his gut. The muffin might have quelled the hollow feeling in his stomach, but it didn’t make him feel… contented the way Hide’s pastries normally would. He looked at the second muffin. Maybe he needed two to get that satisfaction? But… Yuta had lost his appetite. He didn’t feel like eating anymore. In fact, he felt like drinking instead.

Replacing the food cover over the remaining muffin, Yuta reached behind him and opened the fridge door. The interior lit up and cold cans of beer greeted him. Taking a can out, he cracked it open and slouched in his chair as he drank up. This was more like it.


	32. 32

The distant sound of keys rattling in the lock reached Yuta’s ears. Someone was coming into the house. He lazily glanced at the clock. 1 p.m.; right in the middle of lunchtime. It couldn’t be Hide, could it? 

Yuta grunted and groaned as he struggled to sit up. He had moved from the dining table to the couch to drink. He was more comfortable here. Although, he was also more prone to dozing off suddenly.

“Back to drinking in the day again, I see,” Toll’s gruff voice commented reproachfully.

“Uhn,” Yuta grunted nonchalantly. So, Toll was back from… wherever it is he went.

“And you’ve decided not to open your stall?”

“Well, I’m very prepared and free to take whatever it is you intend to say to me, so, shoot,” Yuta said with a frustrated wave of his hand. His brain had already gone through all the worst-case scenarios he could think of. At this point, he just wanted to get this over and done with.

“ … What are you expecting me to say?” Toll asked.

“That it’s gross. Disgusting. Unacceptable,” Yuta muttered, his jaw tense with discomfort. “That you don’t have a brother who…” He couldn’t finish his sentence. The silence which followed weighed on Yuta’s shoulders and with each passing moment, it seemed to grow heavier along with the sinking feeling in his chest that the worst possible scenario was coming true.

Until Toll said, “Why would I say that?” 

“I saw the look on your face,” Yuta spat. “You looked-”

“Shocked? Yeah,” Toll cut in. “But, I mean, why wouldn’t I be?” he went on. “I guess I just needed some time to digest it but…”

“But?”

“Rather than… that,” Toll gestured vaguely as a troubled expression took over, “I’m more upset that you’ve never told me about your… preference before.”

“How am I supposed to tell you about something even I didn’t know about?”

“Huh?” Toll blurted at the unexpected response. “How can you not know about this?”

“It just happened!” Yuta stressed, gesturing his exasperation.

“But…” Toll paused, confused. “You said it wasn’t assau-”

“I mean,” Yuta grimaced. Scratching his head, he took a quick drink of his beer before continuing, “Well, it did take me by surprise but… I don’t really… feel entirely negative about it…?”

Yuta didn’t even know if what he said made sense to Toll, but he could feel his brother’s stare on him. After what felt like an eternity, Toll asked, “Have you even spoken to that guy about this?”

“No.”

“But you have to sort this out with him, don’t you?” Toll questioned. “Since he lives here.”

Yuta frowned and looked over his shoulder. “How… did you know that?” he asked. He was sure that he had never mentioned Hide’s tenancy to his brother before.

“Imai told me,” Toll replied. “I was talking to him about you two-”

“WHAT?!”

“What?” Toll froze, startled. “What’s wrong with that?” he asked as Yuta groaned and scrubbed his hands down his face. “He should know about this, right?”

“He doesn’t! How would he know about this if it just happened?!” Yuta almost yelled. Oh, god. Now it was only a matter of time before the whole street heard about this.

“I dunno,” Toll shrugged. “He definitely didn’t look surprised.”

That didn’t stop Yuta from letting out another horrified groan. 

“Anyway,” Toll walked into the kitchen and pulled out a beer for himself, “I’m going to head out so I’ll leave you to sort this out yourself.”

Yuta made a frustrated noise and covered his eyes with an arm. “I need another beer,” he moaned.

“Huh, where’d this muffin come from?” Toll asked.

“Hide made it,” Yuta replied.

“That guy bakes?” Toll remarked with obvious scepticism. “Can I have it?”

“Only if you’ll bring me another beer.”

Yuta heard the fridge door open. Moments later, Toll exclaimed, “Holy shit!”

“Hunh?”

“He’s pretty good at this, huh?” Toll added as he put the fresh can of beer on the coffee table. 

“Uhn,” Yuta vocalised. He couldn’t be bothered to respond properly anymore.

“Anyway, see ya later,” Toll bade before thumping down the stairs and disappearing out the door.

Yuta barely grunted a response. Reluctantly sitting up, he reached for the new can and then froze. Wait, did Toll say ‘later’?


	33. 33

Yuta came out of the bath with his bath towel still draped over his head. It had taken him the whole day to finally muster up the motivation to take a shower. He really only did it because he needed to get some proper food and he didn’t want to go out looking or smelling like a homeless alcoholic. And now that he had left the bathroom and entered the kitchen, he had to resist the urge to grab another beer from the fast-emptying fridge. He groaned at the thought of having to restock it himself. What a pain.

Heavy footsteps trudged up the stairs into the apartment and a loud sigh followed. Yuta turned towards the noise. With the towel on his head, he couldn’t see or guess who it was since his brother was now a possibility. The tell-tale scent of coffee told him that it was Hide, though. Yet as he pulled the towel off his head, Yuta still felt a jolt in his chest when he made eye contact with Hide.

Quickly averting Yuta’s gaze, Hide’s eyes darted to the floor, though. He had a strange unreadable expression on his face but it was clear to Yuta that he was exhausted too. More so than usual. Hide adjusted his grip, crinkling the handles of the plastic bag he held in his right hand. It looked like bento boxes from the convenience store.

Noticing where Yuta’s attention was, Hide hesitantly asked, “Do you… want dinner?”

Yuta couldn’t tell what it was, but he could feel Hide’s tension affecting him too. Despite the mild discomfort, though, Yuta was more relieved that this meant he wouldn’t have to head out for food. So, he croaked, “Yes.”

Hide’s nervous energy seemed to lift the moment Yuta replied. Well, not entirely, though. It was still obvious that Hide was somewhat stiff as he went past Yuta and put the food on the dining table.

Draping the bath towel around his shoulders, Yuta joined Hide at the table. Sitting down, Hide gave Yuta first pick; it was either chicken karaage or some sort of croquette. Yuta chose the karaage. With that settled, the two of them ate in silence; without exchanging a single word or even looking at each other. It was tense.  _ Very _ tense. The atmosphere actually didn’t give Yuta much of an appetite for food but he forced some down anyway. He had to eat. After all, this was likely going to be his only proper meal for the day.

Yuta glanced over at Hide’s bento box. It didn’t look like Hide had much appetite either. He was mostly poking around with his chopsticks and-

“I’m sorry,” Hide said suddenly, his voice soft.

“Hunh?” Yuta grunted in surprise. 

“For last night,” Hide elaborated. “For letting myself get carried away.”

“Oh.” There’s that apology again. Although, Yuta didn’t know how he should respond to that. He had no good answers for Hide.

“And for… ruining things,” Hide added in a barely audible voice.

“What?”

“I should also let you know,” Hide quickly skipped past that statement and Yuta’s exclamation, “that I’ll move out-”

“What!?” Yuta slammed his chopsticks down. “Why?!”

Hide leaned back in his chair, eyes large as he stared at Yuta in shock. “I thought… after yesterday…”

“What about it?!”

“I've been thinking about it and I figured maybe you wouldn’t want me around after yesterday,” Hide replied. “So, I thought it might be easier on you if I took the initiative to suggest my leaving-”

“No!” Yuta snapped sharply.

“No?” Hide echoed.

“I never said I wanted you to leave!”

“So, you… don’t want me to leave?” Hide surmised, hesitant yet genuinely surprised at the same time. “But last night…”

“I need you to answer me something first,” Yuta said, leaning forward. “Why did you do that?”

At a loss for words, Hide looked like a goldfish as his mouth opened and closed a few times before he eventually dropped his eyes to the ground and let out a heavy sigh. “Since this is where things have come to…”

Yuta ‘s heart seized up. He didn’t like the way Hide said that. Or the way he reacted. It all felt ominous to him. “What d’you mean?” he probed warily.

“Remember there was that one time you asked me if I liked you?” 

“Uh… huh…?”

“And I said I did?”

“Yeah?”

“I guess I didn’t know exactly how much at the time,” Hide sighed heavily, broad shoulders slumping. With his head still bowed, he added in a soft voice, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

Frowning, Yuta wrinkled his nose and scratched the back of his head. “That's… it?” he asked.

“Huh?” Hide looked up, surprised by Yuta's reaction.

“That’s what you've been apologising for?”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you were apologising because you mistook me for someone else or something,” Yuta said with an awkward laugh.

“Someone else?”

“Maybe some girl you're interested in or-”

“I don't have anyone like that,” Hide cut in. “I mean, unless… you…”

“So, if I were to ask you now whether you like me-”

“Yes, I like you,” Hide suddenly stood up, “I do like you. A lot.”

Startled by the sudden movement, Yuta instinctively leaned back and stared at Hide, wide-eyed. “Well… uh…” Yuta didn’t quite know how to respond to this… confession. On one hand, he was relieved that Hide actually meant to kiss  _ him _ but on the other hand… Yuta pressed his lips thin and frowned to himself. On the other hand…?

“I knew it. I’m making you uncomfortable, aren’t I?” Hide muttered, dismay apparent on his face. Walking away, he continued, “I’ll just try and move out as soon as possible-”

“No!” Darting forward, Yuta grabbed Hide’s hand. “I said, stay!”

“But-!”

Yuta gave Hide’s arm a hard tug and pulled him down to silence him with a kiss. But only a brief one. A mere few seconds felt long enough when his heart was pounding as hard as it was.

Pulling apart, Yuta looked up at Hide’s stunned face and repeated, “I never said I wanted you to leave!”

Instead of responding, Hide clasped Yuta face in his hands and kissed him back. Hide's fingers were in his hair, gently curling and caressing the back of Yuta's neck as the taller man came nearer and closed the gap between them. It felt nice; this close proximity and Hide's thumbs stroking Yuta's cheeks, but it eventually ended when Hide broke the kiss to gaze into Yuta's eyes and ask, “Really?”

“I really have the best timing, don’t I?” Toll groaned loudly. 

Yuta snapped his head to the entryway and yelled, “Why are you back here?!”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Toll yelled back. “I’m moving back!”

“You didn’t mention a word of that!” Yuta replied. “And I thought you said you were done with city life!?”

“Yeah, but dad said it’d be easier to meet the representatives from the other companies if there was someone in Tokyo,” Toll explained, walking towards his old room. “So here I am- Wait,” he stopped outside the room, “whose things are those?”

“Um, mine,” Hide muttered, raising his hand with a chagrin expression. “I guess that means I’ll still have to move out-”

Yuta shook his head. “No, you’re not-”

“He lives here?!” Toll exclaimed.

“He rents the room!” Yuta clarified.

“You’re sleeping with your tenant!?”

“No!” Yuta denied. “I told you this  _ just  _ happened!”

“I don’t care, I just want my room back,” Toll waved his hand dismissively.

“You just can’t kick him out!” Yuta argued. “I just told him he’s staying and even if he  _ had _ to move you can’t expect him to find a place immediately!”

“He can sleep somewhere else.”

“Like my room?”

“No! I meant the couch!”

“That’s not rent worthy!”

“You’re dating him  _ and _ making him pay rent?!” Toll surmised. “I knew you were a hustler, Yuta but I didn’t think you’d be that cutthroat.”

“I did not foresee this,” Yuta replied through gritted teeth. “Besides, he’s paying rent so I can cover the mortgage. Are  _ you _ going to chip in for that?”

“What mortgage?” Toll asked, confused.

“I bought the place,” Yuta revealed. “There’s a mortgage for it.”

“What?!”

“So? Are you chipping in or not?” Yuta asked, putting his hands on his hips. “If you’re not, I’d much rather Hide stay.”

“You’re not giving me much of a choice are you?” Toll grumbled.

“You’re not giving Hide much of a choice either, Anii,” Yuta retorted. 

“Gah! Fine, fine,” Toll threw his hands up in the air as he relented. “But can we talk about this tomorrow? I’m dying to sleep now.”

“I’ll just… move my things first,” Hide muttered, side-stepping Yuta to head into the room while avoiding eye contact with Toll and making sure to give him a wide berth.

“Where are your things, anyway?” Yuta addressed Toll as Hide got busy.

“I’m getting them sent over from Gunma,” Toll replied. “They should be arriving later tonight.”

“You’re… not gonna tell dad, are you?” Yuta asked, his voice dropping.

“About what? Him?” Toll jerked his head in Hide’s direction.

Yuta nodded.   
  
Toll grunted a nervous laugh. “I’ll let you handle that yourself,” he said. “If he’s ever going to find out about this, I believe he’d rather hear it from you than me.”

“Right…” Yuta didn’t know if he should feel relieved about this or not. But at the very least, that was something he could worry about later. Now, though… Hide came out of the room arms laden with clothes. Yuta caught his arm as he passed and said, “Put your stuff in my room.” Hide nodded mutely and went on his way. Now, Yuta had a bit of a housing crisis to deal with.


	34. 34

“Why do you have such a big bed?”

“I thought it’d be nice to have if I ever brought any girls home.”

“… I guess that’s not happening anymore, is it?”

Yuta sucked in a deep breath and sighed. “Doesn’t look like it,” he mumbled as his eyes stared at the blank white ceiling. “Then again, I’ve never brought anyone home for as long as I’ve lived here,” he added.

“So… I’m the first other person in your bed?” Hide asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Yuta affirmed. “Maybe, except for that one time my brother got drunk and mistook my room for his.”

Hide let out a soft chuckle but otherwise, he didn’t say anything.

After a moment of silence, Yuta turned to look at Hide who was lying beside him in bed in the dark and asked, “So, I guess this is how it’s going to be, huh?”

“Hm?” Hide blinked and looked back at Yuta. “Mm… Are you sure about this?”

“Nope,” Yuta answered frankly. He could see a small crease appear between Hide’s eyebrows. “But I’d rather have taken a chance to see where this goes than not,” he added.

“Ah…”

“I’m not letting Anii kick you out, though,” Yuta promised. “But… you don’t actually want to go, do you?”

“No, not unless you asked me to,” Hide replied. “After all, I only got to stay here because you were kind enough to let me. I wouldn’t want to be the one causing any reason for you to feel bad.”

_ Kind _ . Yuta never thought that was a word he would be associated with. It made him feel… fuzzy.

“Well, I said you're staying,” Yuta muttered as he moved to clasp Hide's hand under the covers. “And that's that.”

It was a good thing they were in the dark because Yuta’s face warmed up when he felt Hide reciprocate with a firm grasp of his own and a soft, “Thanks.”

Yuta hummed back a vague response and they fell back into silence. Lying still with their eyes on the ceiling again, Yuta idly fidgeted with Hide’s hand as he watched the lights from outside shift with the occasional passing person. He was sort of waiting for Hide to do something but he was starting to get restless.

“Aren’t you… going to do anything?” Yuta asked hesitantly.

“Hn?” Hide turned to look at him. “What thing?”

“Well,” Yuta paused and cleared his throat, “I thought you’d… make a move or something…”

“Oh! Well… I thought you’d be tired, or something. I mean, I know I am,” Hide said quickly. “And, well, you didn’t sleep last night, did you?”

“Huh, yeah,” Yuta let out a short laugh. Now that Hide mentioned it, Yuta started to notice the fatigue weighing on him in the back of his head.

“But,” Hide stifled a yawn, “can I hug you?”

“Hn? What are you asking for? You’ve been doing that since day one,” Yuta muttered.

“Out of courtesy,” Hide mumbled. Without a moment’s hesitation, Hide started turning around and put an arm on Yuta. Just as Yuta thought he was done, Hide slid a little lower to rest his head on Yuta’s chest and tuck into the crook of his neck. When he finally stopped moving, Hide whispered, “So much better.”

“Yeah?” With a face full of Hide’s hair, the scent of coffee hit Yuta again. Hide had already showered before coming in to sleep but it was like the man was practically infused with coffee or something. It wouldn’t go away. But it wasn’t unpleasant. Yuta couldn’t complain.

Now pinned under Hide, Yuta found himself playing with Hide’s messy mop of hair which was softer than he expected it to be. Hide grunted and shifted again, this time to wrap his arms around Yuta before muttering, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Yuta returned.

Almost immediately, Hide’s breathing slowed and grew deeper. Yuta could almost laugh at how easily Hide fell asleep, leaving Yuta to think about how he was going to tell Imai how horrendously he lost their bet and how life was going to be with his brother living with him again. But it wasn’t all that bad.

Yuta looked down at Hide and smiled to himself. Hugging the larger man, he buried his face in Hide’s hair and took a deep breath of coffee and shampoo. It wasn’t all that bad like this.


End file.
